Navy Football Unveils Gorgeous New NASA Uniforms For Army Game With Cool Backstory
As Navy looks ahead to the 123rd Army-Navy game next month, the Midshipmen are gearing up. Literally.
The football program unveiled its new uniforms for this year's matchup and they are out of this world. Again, literally.
Navy and Under Armour debuted astronaut-themed uniform that honor the school's deep-rooted ties to NASA.
They're beautiful and the team absolutely loves them.
One might ask what the Navy has to do with space, but there are actually a lot of close ties.
Fifty-four United States Naval Academy graduates have gone on to become astronauts, which is the most of any institution. The first graduate to become an astronaut was Alan Shepard, who was one of NASA's first seven astronauts and later became the first American in space on May 5, 1961. He then returned to space in 1971, when Apollo 14 landed on the moon, and he went on two moonwalks!
14 years later, Naval Academy graduate Bruce McCandless also made history. He took the first untethered spacewalk.
Navy's uniforms mimic NASA's spacewalk suit.
The white uniform with red stripes and the American flag are identical to markings on the NASA spacewalk suits. Helvetica, the font on the front, has been used by NASA exclusively for decades on everything from the space shuttle, to signage and printouts, to the suits themselves.
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
On the left side of the uniform is the USS Enterprise patch. The vessel was the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier and Navy graduates Bruce McCandless and William McCoo both served aboard the ship.
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
From there, it goes even deeper.
The white and red gloves and pants’ side-panels feature the NASA astronaut pin, which was adopted in 1963 and was first given to Mercury 7 astronauts. Silver pins are awarded to astronauts after completing basic training and gold pins are awarded after completion of a spaceflight mission.
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
Helmets are the stars (pun intended) of the uniform.
The lids feature individually hand-crafted paintings of the iconic photo of McCandless untethered in space. The other side of the helmet features the classic NASA logo with the Moon in the background.
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
Astronaut pins are also on the helmet stripe from front to back.
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
Navy's cleats tie things together. They resemble moon boots.
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
If the uniforms weren't cool enough, check out the game ball, which is wrapped in a moon crater patter.
(Image courtesy: United States Naval Academy Athletics)
Here are some more looks at the uniforms:
Army and Navy have both worn alternate uniforms for their historic game each year. The Midshipmen decided to do something completely different in 2022 and they turned out great.
(Fly Navy, Beat Army!)