Last week, we told you the dramatic story of the rise and fall of "the worm," NASA's glorious logo from the 1970s. Its reappearance in the public eye was prompted by a Kickstarter campaign from Pentagram designers Hamish Smyth and Jesse Reed, who are looking to reissue the NASA Graphics Standards Manual, a 90-page document filled with illustrations and writings that outlined how NASA should implement the worm and its accompanying graphic system.
The Kickstarter has been wildly successful—more than 6,500 people have paid $79 a pop for what promises to be a gorgeous hard-cover rendition of the original document. Now, in a funny turn of events, NASA has decided to release the entire manual (which has always been in the public domain) as a free PDF on its website.
We're not saying it was a direct response to the Kickstarter, but we have our suspicions. And regardless, there's no competition here—both will be totally different experiences. The way we see it, now you have two ways to read a fantastic piece of graphic design history.
