The Space Flag represents life and humans living on Earth, and growing towards living beyond Earth.
Words that describe this idea include “space colonization”, “space settlement”, “extend life to there” and “permanent human presence in space”. The Space Flag represents the same idea with symbols.
Symbolism
Against the background of space, the central blue circle represents the Earth, and the other six circles represent colonies. Together, the seven circles form the flower-like Seed of Life symbol, representing life from its beginnings on Earth to its growth to space. Four white stars represent life’s ultimate destination.
Construction sheet
The flag’s horizontal length is 1.5 times the vertical width. The background color is blue. The Seed of Life symbol is made of seven overlapping circles vertically arranged as 1-2-1-2-1. It is centered and spans the full vertical width of the flag. From outermost to innermost, the Seed of Life is colored red, white, blue and white again.
The white, six-pointed stars are all upright: two points pointing straight up and down. Another two points are in line with diagonals made by the Seed of Life. Each star is positioned halfway on the diagonal between the Seed of Life and the edge of the flag. The outer diameter of the stars is 3/5 of the diagonal distance between the Seed of Life and the edge of the flag. Each point of the stars is 36 degrees, the same angle as the point of the pentagram (regular five-pointed star).
Colors
The Space Flag has the same colors as the NASA insignia (“NASA meatball”):
NASA Red
PANTONE 185
Process: 0 Cyan, 100 Magenta, 100 Yellow, 0 blacK
RGB: 252 Red, 61 Green, 33 Blue
Hexadecimal: FC3D21
NASA Blue
PANTONE 286
Process: 100 Cyan, 60 Magenta, 0 Yellow, 0 blacK
RGB: 11 Red, 61 Green, 145 Blue
Hexadecimal: 0B3D91
Reference: NASA Visual Identity System
Size
The size of the Space Flag depends on the size of the flagpole and the size of accompanying flags. A suggested size for a house flag is 3 feet x 4 1/2 feet.
Download
Cloth flag
The Space Flag is currently free, but only as computer files. To get a real cloth Space Flag, you will need to order a custom flag from a flag maker. Find a local flag store in your Yellow Pages, or search for “custom flags” on the Internet. Check what file format your flag manufacturer requires.
flag_ai.zip (zipped compressed file, 1.13 megabytes)
Contains: flag.ai (Adobe Illustrator CS file)
flag_eps.zip (zipped compressed file, 0.44 megabytes)
Contains: flag.eps (Adobe Illustrator CS Encapsulated PostScript file)
flag_pdf.zip (zipped compressed file, 0.40 megabytes)
Contains: flag.pdf (Adobe Acrobat/Portable Document Format file)
These files are vector files, which allow you to reduce or enlarge the Space Flag to any size without losing detail.
Screen saver (Windows)
Most versions of Microsoft Windows (95 B, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP) have a standard screen saver, 3D Flying Objects, that can be customized to show an animated Space Flag:
- Download image: Download flag_bmp.zip (zipped compressed file, 0.003 megabytes) and extract flag.bmp (Windows bitmap image file).
- Customize display: Minimize or restore windows until you can see the desktop. Right-click the desktop, and click Properties. (Alternatively: Start, Settings, Control Panel, Display.)
- Customize screen saver: Click the Screen Saver tab. Choose 3D Flying Objects. (If you don’t have 3D Flying Objects, you may be able to install it from your Windows CD: Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Windows Setup tab, Accessories: Details..., Screen Savers.)
- Customize 3D Flying Objects: Click Settings..., and choose Textured Flag. Click Texture... and make your way to flag.bmp, the file you extracted earlier.
Image link
If you would like to put a link to this web site on your web page, you could use a text link or the following image link:
flag8015.gif (GIF image, 80 x 15 pixels)
You could use the following HTML to add the image link to your web page:
<p>
<a href="http://www.spaceflag.com/">
<img src="http://www.spaceflag.com/flag8015.gif"
alt="The Space Flag web site" width="80" height="15" />
</a>
</p>
Etiquette
The Space Flag should be flown in accordance with the laws and codes of your nation. Generally, when the Space Flag is flown with a national flag, the Space Flag should be below or at the same height as the national flag. It should be smaller or about the same size as the national flag.
Contact
Write to Michael Huang at spaceflag@gmail.com