The "Maggots were so named by member Bill Shepherd, who, often taking charge of matters during their earliest training as a group (aircraft survival school), addressed his new colleagues by that name, wich will be fairly familiar to graduates of USMC boot camp.
"Quando Edamus" wich means something like: When do we eat...? or, When do we perform...?
Seventeen spacesuited Maggots who fly out the garbage can Shuttle...
The Artwork
This is the original design, it's in the hallway of the Astronaut Office. It has a plaque under it with the words "Prime Maggot(s)." It hangs outside the office of whoever is the next Maggot scheduled to fly in space.
A Personal Story
..."(Blaine) Hammond was the Caped Crusadar(*) for STS-34. On launch day, as he crawled through the flight deck checking and double-checking the crew's checklists, he thought to take out his Maggot stamp. This was a rubber stamp astronaut Marsha Ivins had designed for each of the members of the class of 1984; it featured the Maggot logo, a Space Shuttle whose payload bay had been replaced with a garbage can swimming with little maggots in space suits. The Maggots had the design emblazoned on T-shirts and plyfully decorated their notes to each other with the stamp. It was a silly thing, but it gave the Maggots a sense of identity, a dash of esprit de corps"...
(*)Caped Crusadar is the Astronaut Support Personnel (ASP) point man, the astronaut who straps the crew into their seats on launch day.
From: Dragonfly, NASA and the Crisis Aboard MIR.
Spot the Patch !!!
Astronaut Marsha Ivins with the Maggots patch on her arm.
Maggots in Space...
"Maggot" Mike McCulley floats in front of the galley aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This picture was taken during STS-34. Note the picture of Paul Weitz posted to the galley as well: Weitz was not a member of the STS-34 crew, but happened to celebrate his birthday on the day this picture was taken.