Hawai'i native Michael Okuda, a graphic designer for the "Star Trek" series, recently received NASA's Exceptional Public Service Medal for designing emblems representing NASA's new Constellation Program.

The Exceptional Public Service Medal was awarded to Okuda July 9 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Okuda, a Roosevelt High and University of Hawai'i-Manoa graduate, also designed emblems for the Ares, Orion and Altair projects, along with a mission patch for the upcoming Ares I-X development flight test.

Over the years, Okuda has done design work for Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center and NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He also worked with ground control officer Bill Foster to design the "Spaceflight Memorial Patch," honoring the fallen astronauts of Apollo 1 and the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

Okuda is a veteran art designer for "Star Trek," including "The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine," "Voyager," "Enterprise" and six Trek feature films.

NASA's Constellation Program Web page is at www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/index.html.