EXPLORATION

Preface
In 1992, Jerry C. South, Jr., a NASA researcher at the
NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia,
posed a challenge to A. Gary Price, Head of the Office
of External Affairs at Langley. The new administrator
of NASA, Daniel S. Goldin, had recently made a decision
to reinstitute the well-known “meatball” insignia
as part of his effort to revitalize the Agency. South had
knowledge of some aspects of the origin of the emblem
that had been designed 34 years earlier in 1958, and
he pointed out that the details of the conception and
history of the logo had never been documented. Since
Price’s organization was the designated Langley focal
point for such historical information at the time, South
suggested that the topic would be an excellent project
for External Affairs. 1 Mark Chambers, the coauthor of
this publication, worked for Price and was assigned the
task of researching the genesis of the emblem, including
interviewing key individuals known to be essential
to the NASA meatball story.
In the summer of 1992, Chambers interviewed
several key participants involved in the design process,
reviewed correspondence, studied documents and
technical reports, and obtained relevant material from
the NASA photographic archives at Langley. The story
that emerged from his efforts was reported to Price and
his organization, which in turn sent samples of some
of the documented results to NASA Headquarters for
official review. 2 Unfortunately, the results of the study
were never published.
In 2012, Chambers’ father, Joseph R. Chambers,
discovered the 20-year-old notes that had been accumulated
by Mark and decided to pursue the story with
the intention of formally documenting the details to
the fullest extent possible. By that time, many of the
key participants of the events that had occurred almost
55 years earlier had passed away, and much more
research was required to fill in the blanks.
After the completion of additional research and
new interviews, a lecture on the evolution of the NASA
seal and insignia was presented to Langley staff and
1 South, J. C., Jr., Meatball Logo Based on Wind Tunnel
Model, The Researcher News, Langley’s in-house newsletter,
NASA Langley Research Center, 14 August 1992, p. 2.
2 Chambers, Mark A., “History of the Red ‘V’ in the NASA
Meatball,” NASA History Office File 4542, 31 July 1992.
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