CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan. 12 Two Kennedy Space Center icons -- Old Glory and the NASA logo -- are getting a much needed paint job to repair the effects of time and Florida weather.
Elevated platforms are up at the Vehicle Assembly Building for painters to spruce up the massive 209-foot-tall, 110-foot-wide flag, first painted in 1976 to mark the bicentennial, NASA said in a news release. The painters also will touch up NASA's 12,300-square-foot logo, nicknamed the meatball, painted in 1998 to commemorate the agency's 40th anniversary.
When the flag was painted, NASA planners consulted the Army's Institute of Heraldry at the Pentagon, the agency said. The result was the largest American flag ever depicted, with its stripes 9 feet wide and stars measuring 6 feet in diameter.
When painters finish their work on the side of the 525-foot-high building, the emblems will be visible for miles, NASA officials said.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
