Logos on Orion

The space agency logos for the next spacecraft to head to the Moon have been added to Orion as part of the Artemis programme.

ESA’s logo reflects our European nature and our pioneering activities in space. It incorporates the only element of ESA’s name common to all languages of Member States - the letter ‘e’ for European, which is symbol of cooperation and human dimension. Europe is represented by a circular ‘e’, superimposed on the globe that represents our planet Earth. The white dot represents a satellite in orbit. This symbol also incorporates the visionary side of space exploration and today is synonymous with a united Europe in space.

NASA’s ‘worm’ design was officially introduced in 1975 and was incorporated into many of the agency’s next-generation programmes. It was retired in 1992, but made a comeback in 2020 as a new, modern era of human spaceflight becomes reality.

Orion will display the logos on the first Artemis Orion spacecraft. The worm image, along with ESA’s logo, were cut into flightproof decals by the Launch Equipment Shop at the Kennedy Space Center and adhered to the underside of Orion’s crew module adapter.

ESA is providing the European Service Module for Orion, which is the powerhouse that fuels and propels the spacecraft. These bold images will be seen from cameras at the end of Orion’s solar arrays as the spacecraft travels toward the Moon.