I was watching something about the “Gateway Project” to build a space station orbiting the moon.
I did a little double-take when I saw the logo.
At first it looked like every logo you see here in Saint Louis, there’s the arch, gotta have the arch, and then I remembered NASA isn’t like a Saint Louis used car dealer. What are they doing with our Arch?
“Well, ‘Gateway,’” I thought, “It’s the Gateway Arch,” and then I wondered, “Does the rest of the world immediately associate the words ‘Gateway’ and ‘Arch’? Our arch isn’t the only one arch out there.”
So I looked it up, and read:
“The new logo represents the Gateway’s near rectilinear halo orbit above the grey horizon of the moon with a white arch similar in appearance to the iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.”
Perhaps it’s a nod to the Gemini modules being built in Saint Louis, too, but I suppose it’s possible the world has adopted the Gateway Arch as the universal symbol for all gateways, harbors, thresholds, and oppression of natives. Soon the world will all look like local air conditioner repair shops.
I feel quite the center of the universe.