Why Apple TV's Sci-Fi Epic For All Mankind Uses A Modified NASA Logo

"For All Mankind" has garnered quite a bit of praise since its arrival on Apple TV in 2019, and is considered one of the best alternate history TV shows you can stream right now. However, if you've watched the show, you might have noticed an interesting design detail. While "For All Mankind" includes plenty of fabricated science fiction assets, it also includes the NASA logo, though with a bit of a twist.

Instead of the real-life NASA emblem, the logo used in "For All Mankind," has a few key changes. First, on the meatball-style logo, the red vector is pointed in the opposite direction and moves behind the blue circle instead of across the front. You'll also notice that the circular "orbit" that surrounds the A and S letters in NASA has been shifted. 

Considering the show's reverence for astronauts and the space race as a whole, you might be confused why the people behind the show would choose to go with a fictional NASA logo instead of the real deal. According to Ron Moore, the creator of "For All Mankind," the move was done to respect NASA's policies regarding the use of its logo and branding.

In a 2019 interview with several news outlets, Moore and others involved with the project — which included former members of NASA — talked about the series. Here Moore revealed the reason why "For All Mankind" went with a variation of the NASA logo. He said that the change wasn't because of any issues with the space agency, which some might have believed was the case given the show's alternate history. 

Instead, it was done to respect the brand policies that NASA has in place, which essentially state that anything with the official NASA logo has to accurately portray the events as they happened. That's why you see the official logo used in movies based on true stories, but not alt-history shows like "For All Mankind." 

Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who worked as a technical advisor on the show, shared that they did try and obtain the agency's approval for use of the logo. However, given the timing — this was just before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission — it seemed to be too much of ask for NASA.

Another member of the interview, Gerald Griffin — who was a NASA flight director during the Apollo era — noted that this issue is not unique to "For All Mankind." Moore further speculated that it could be partly related to ideas circulating about the Moon mission being fake. Ultimately, Griffin says that everything the agency touches is under increased scrutiny, and with the Artemis missions ongoing, that's likely to increase as more people pay attention to what's happening at NASA. 

But considering how quickly this space race series has become a modern sci-fi classic, it's probably not a bad thing that the creators decided to play it safe and go with an unofficial logo, especially considering how central NASA is to the alternate historical timeline that plays out in the show. The timeline of the story ranges from the days of the Apollo missions into the 2010s. That is quite a swath of new history to create, and using the official NASA logo likely would have meant obtaining ongoing approval for the storylines, which would be challenging at best.