COURTESY MICHAEL OKUDA AND PARAMOUNT Designer Michael Okuda, who started out on "The Space Show" in Honolulu, is responsible for the "Okudagram" modular creations that gave "Star Trek" its futuristic look.

Space man

Isle resident Michael Okuda melds fact and science fiction as a designer for the 'Star Trek' shows ... and NASA

Space, the final frontier. Or so a TV show claimed 40 years ago, before man had even set foot on the moon. "Star Trek" became an inspiration not just for sci-fi buffs, but for the engineers and scientists who work for NASA.

And it turns out there's an ongoing connection between the TV series and the government agency, routed through Hawaii's Michael Okuda, an artist and designer closely identified with the show. The man whose "Okudagrams" have become a catch phrase in industrial symbology has also been designing insignia for the shuttle missions.

"It turns out that a fair number of people at NASA are 'Star Trek' fans," said Okuda. "When NASA announced its new Vision for Space Exploration a couple of years ago, I contacted the head of their new Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and offered to design a logo for the program."

Patches and emblems are an important part of the culture at NASA, explained Okuda. Each program and mission has an individual patch, even if they're mostly for internal use. Each worker takes great pride in their patch, so they want to guide the design.

COURTESY MICHAEL OKUDA AND PARAMOUNT Okuda also designed specialized mission patches for NASA, including the Exploration, EVA and Ares designs shown here.

NASA, being a quasi-government agency, has arcane rules of symbology in its insignia, and they can be "read" for hidden meanings. One example, said Okuda, was a commemorative patch for Mission Control, commemorating fallen astronauts. "They wanted to have 17 stars in the background of the design, one representing each member of those crews."

A while ago Okuda and design partner (and wife) Denise gave some NASA engineers a tour of the "Star Trek" sets. Later, the scientists returned the favor by giving the Okudas a tour of Kennedy Space Center.

"Denise and I were standing on the launch pad, looking up at amazement at the incredible machines that it takes to fly up into space. Our friends just smiled and said, 'Now you know how we felt visiting the Starship Enterprise,'" recalled Okuda.

"For a kid who grew up watching astronauts walk on the moon, it's a great thrill to design emblems for the men and women taking the next great steps into space."