The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 22-member intergovernmental body devoted to space exploration. The team that created the logo wanted it to represent the goals and values of the newly-formed ESA, so every detail was considered. The roundel stood for our home planet, Earth, and the ‘e’ on the surface of this globe stood for European, as the letter ‘e’ was common to all the languages of ESA’s Member States. The ‘e’ also stood for Europe, at the centre of space activities. A small white dot represented a satellite, while a series of curved lines suggested the orbits of spacecraft or parallels (lines of latitude used on maps for navigation). One thing wasn’t anticipated: many people saw the roundel’s curved lines as a human fingerprint. This added an appealing human angle, especially as ESA became more involved in human spaceflight. So the idea stuck, becoming part of the roundel’s backstory, and it was often nicknamed the ‘thumbprint’.