Mike Okuda, the man who is the heart and soul behind all the clean and cool graphics we have come to love and respect on Star Trek, has been enlisted by NASA to design program and mission logos. The concept that Okudagrams really are going out into the depths of space is somewhat mindboggling, and gives me a thrill.
Pictured above are Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong and Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, who toured one of the Altair mock-ups at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Dec. 9, 2008. The Altair lunar lander will take human beings to the surface of the moon for the first time since Apollo and is part of NASA’s Constellation Program. In the background is Wayne Ottinger, who worked on the Apollo lunar lander training vehicle, and Jack Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot. The veteran astronauts visited Johnson and talked with the Altair lunar lander team about design concepts. These legends are wearing pins emblazoned with Mike’s Altair logo.
Pictured above are Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong and Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, who toured one of the Altair mock-ups at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Dec. 9, 2008. The Altair lunar lander will take human beings to the surface of the moon for the first time since Apollo and is part of NASA’s Constellation Program. In the background is Wayne Ottinger, who worked on the Apollo lunar lander training vehicle, and Jack Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot. The veteran astronauts visited Johnson and talked with the Altair lunar lander team about design concepts. These legends are wearing pins emblazoned with Mike’s Altair logo.
Y’know, I actually saw Mike’s Constellation logos on his Mac page when someone linked to it. & I was nicely impressed at how simple they are. So many people try to “busy up” logos & illustrations these days that they forget the basic rule of design is to get the idea across in the most simple terms possible. To me, the Constellation-related logos are as wonderfully iconic as some of my favorite “forgotten” space logos, like the ones for Voyager, Apollo-Soyuz, & the Yuri Gagarin “memorial” designs.
Mike will be pleased to hear that., and yes, he is a big fan of the classic NASA mission patches. They were always in the back of his mind when designing patches for starfleet. Me too!
I’m still kvelling over my iPod touch’s very familiar=looking interface. My “PADD 47″ owes a lot to Mr. Okuda’s work.
Now, if he only had time to work up an iPhone app of some kind, we’d have historical closure.
Hi Doug,
Firstly, I just wanted to say thanks for this awesome website with all it’s rare pics, I’m really loving it. Sorry to turn this into another ‘gimme’ email but I was actually really interested in finding some more pictures of the USS Altair prototype ship that you and Mike designed for the ‘Ships of the Line’ book. I absolutely loved it and it’s inspired me to design my own class of ship around that design. Do you have any more images of her please?
Hi Si! Thank you! I am very happy you are enjoying the “files”. Yes! I plan to do a pictorial on the USS Altair. In fact I have some rendered fly-by sequences which I will turn into QT’s and post. That design has quite a history! It’s a cool departure that still feels “star fleet”. – Doug
Douggie, you’re an officer and a gentleman! LOL! Thanks very much, I’ll be waiting with baited breath. – Si
Wow Mike. Just wow. Would you ever have thought? Congrats.
Thanks for the heads-up on that Doug.
PLL,
deg