National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)

NASA

Last modified: 2018-12-28 by rick wyatt
Keywords: nasa | national aeronautics and space administration | departmental | united states |
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image by Sean McKinniss, 7 February 2003

• Description
• Administrator
• Deputy Administrator
• Associate Administrator
• Previous Flag

See also:

• Space Shuttle Flags
• Project Gemini Flags
• Orion Launch Flag
• Moon
• Departmental Flags
• United States of America
  
  External sites:
  
• History of the Insignia on NASA's site

Description

While not a department (an agency), NASA has its own series of flags. The flag for NASA was created in January 1960 and detailed in U.S. Army drawing QMG 5-1-269, revised September 14, 1960. According to the source, the agency seal is on the flag.
Phil Nelson, 24 September 1998

NASA has an official "insignia" since 15 July 1959 which gets used as a flag often and on may surfaces, it is different from the official seal and flag: http://history.nasa.gov/nltr30-3.pdf
Ben Cahoon, 11 January 2015

Administrator

NASA Administrator: The Flag of the NASA administrator is the same design as the NASA flag, except it is 3 feet by 4 feet and has four stars on the flag.
Phil Nelson, 24 September 1998

Deputy Administrator

The Deputy Administrator's flag has three stars.
Phil Nelson, 24 September 1998

Flag image: i.space.com/images/i/000/028/087/i02/nasa-lori-garver-reddit.jpg?1366147350
Dave Fowler, 9 September 2013

Associate Administrator

The Associate Administrator's flag has 2 stars.
Phil Nelson, 24 September 1998

Previous Flag

NASA used to have another flag before its current one. I saw it when I went to Kennedy Space Center a few years ago. It was the NASA insignia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasa#mediaviewer/File:NASA_logo.svg on a white horizontal background. However, I'm not sure if it had a flag when it was called NACA.

Here's one example of the previous NASA flag: http://www.donshetterly.com/links/nasa%20tweetup/Kennedy%20Space%20Center/Nasa%20Tweetup%20FLag%20090811%20055.JPG (source: http://www.donshetterly.com/links_nasa-tweetup-grail_Sep-2011-ksc.html)
Esteban Rivera, 20 August 2014

It is my understanding that the "White NASA" flag you showed is the insignia not the official flag. According to my research the NASA flag shown above is the official flag of the agency and it was officially adopted January 1960, the seal itself was adopted 27 Nov. 1959. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) itself was established on 1 October 1958.

"Flags in Space: NASA Symbols and Flags in the U.S. Manned Space Program" as recorded in The Flag Bulletin. The flag is described on page 8 of the linked PDF here: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1tt282fs. The white version you noted is on page 10 of the above and is also officially used (more widely than the official, except for a 17 year gap). It is the "Insignia" of NASA and was established 15 July 1959.
Ben Cahoon, 22 August 2014