As the leading space agency in the World, NASA is, of course, responsible for the US civilian space program and it is involved in a wide range of space activities they need to communicate and promote to the general public who are footing the bill. These include:

1. Conducting space-related research
2. Development of technology used in space
3. Launching of space exploration missions
4. Utilization of space technology to solve various challenges facing mankind
5. Collaborating with other country’s space programs in the ISS
6. To increase awareness about space and the US space program

As one of the best space organizations, NASA boasts of several successful space missions. Notable ones include:

1. The NASA X-Planes program, which led to the development of the first rocket-propelled aircraft that broke the sound barrier
2. The Apollo moon landing program, which carried the first human to the surface of the moon
3. The Skylab program – the first space station
4. ExoMars – a Mars exploration mission

In addition to these, NASA is also prepping for a number of future missions that include:

1. The Orion Program, which NASA intends to use to send human crews to deep space locations such as the moon, Mars, and others
2. The Space Launch Systems, a space launch system that will be used to launch payloads and spacecraft into deep space

Logo & Branding

Over the years much has been said in order to encourage NASA to improve its “meatball” logo because it flies in the face of most logo design best practices. Some of the main objections of those who have to replicate, print or work with it relate to the logo’s needless complexity the splattering of dots (stars?) the lack of contrast of the red on blue chevron and the serif font reminiscent of days gone by. However the agency is sticking with it… for now.

Layout & Content

NASA’s site is one of the best space themed websites of them all. The grid-based layout works well in the majority of devices and the black background provides good contrast for overlaying white modules that contain the content elements. NASA have access to the best photos, illustrations and videos, so it is rich in high quality multimedia content. The site needs to cover a huge amount of missions, vehicles and archives, the navigation is well organized to accommodate continually changing content.

Usability & SEO

Unlike all of the other sites audited the US Space Agency website uses javascript to generate the html pages we see in our browsers. This is likely due to a policy that makes an easier job of managing such a large content and media heavy site., So although the site can’t be crawled with the usual SEO tools, Google is still able to discover and index pages then rank them in the search results, despite the large number of broken links and missing images found throughout the site.

Site Stats – 2017

Call to Action

If you can find them, the site has a compelling set of calls to action, located on the top section of the website under the “Follow NASA” link. Here visitors can make their way to links to the agency’s social media channels, registration for the NASA Social program, and NASA’s blog section. There is also a “Downloads” section, where visitors can download apps, e-books, audio files ringtones, and podcasts. It is clear that the agency makes extra effort to encourage those who foot the bill to engage with the brand and to make them feel that its their agency, website and space program.