What's the red thing in the NASA logo?

[superboyac]

[lotusrootstarch]

the red chevron is a wing representing aeronautics.

[mouser]

Don't believe a word lotusrootstarch says.  With some image magnification you can see clearly what is is:

[40hz]

*Gack!!!* It's a bleedin' invasion! And this un's coming for us!!!

(And all this time I thought it would either be the zombies or the Reavers that ultimately did us in!)

[superboyac]

Ha!  Mouser/Lotus...nice.
I totally thought "Is that........a...vag??"
But that probably just says more about me than anything else.

Still, here's the weird thing: NASA has changed their logo over the years, yet they always retain that red thing.  Why?  It's not logo-esque in that it's not symmetrical, it's not particularly interesting.  What does it mean?  I'd like to know.

lotus says it's a wing.  I'll buy it.  I'd still like to know more about why they chose the wing like that.

[superboyac]

The NASA Insignia (more commonly referred to as the "meatball") reflects the history and tradition of the Agency and is used in all of the Agency's day-to-day communications materials. Designed in 1959 by former NASA employee James Modarelli, the NASA Insignia contains the following elements:

    The sphere represents a planet
    The stars represent space
    The vector represents aeronautics
    The orbit represents space travel

eh...thought it would have been more interesting.

[40hz]

Still, here's the weird thing: NASA has changed their logo over the years, yet they always retain that red thing.  Why?

-superboyac (September 22, 2011, 10:55 AM)

Because it's the symbol of the homeworld of those little grey "saucer guys" they're working with at Area 51. That's why.

(And now they have to kill you cuz you know too much.)

[superboyac]

Still, here's the weird thing: NASA has changed their logo over the years, yet they always retain that red thing.  Why?

-superboyac (September 22, 2011, 10:55 AM)

Because it's the symbol of the homeworld of those little grey "saucer guys" they're working with at Area 51. That's why.

(And now they have to kill you cuz you know too much.)

-40hz (September 22, 2011, 11:15 AM)

I'm not scared.  The grey dudes said they'd kill me first if I ever say anything....whoops!

[skwire]

The NASA Insignia (more commonly referred to as the "meatball") reflects the history and tradition of the Agency and is used in all of the Agency's day-to-day communications materials. Designed in 1959 by former NASA employee James Modarelli, the NASA Insignia contains the following elements:

    The sphere represents a planet
    The stars represent space
    The vector represents aeronautics
    The orbit represents space travel

eh...thought it would have been more interesting.

-superboyac (September 22, 2011, 10:58 AM)

Well, they didn't state what the yellow question mark and green arrow mean.   

[40hz]

The green arrow represents Funding. (Think tax dollars flowing from point-A to point-B.) And the yellow question mark should be self explanatory if you follow the political football game that funding the American space program has become.

Or maybe we should now (more correctly) refer to it as the former American space program?

[superboyac]

 

[kyrathaba]