That’s just perspective and topology playing tricks on you.
It’s just extremely boring Helvetica. Here’s the shuttle from another perspective (with “Discovery” in Helvetica Bold added for reference): http://i.imgur.com/kRxj2vj.jpg
That is definitely not Helvetica. The dead giveaway is the 'e', the crossbar is too high. If my eyes aren't fooling me, the terminators on the 'c' aren't parallel either. If that's not enough, the 'r's terminal is too long.
Yeah, your right, it imitates Helvetica but doesn’t seem to be quite it. I wonder why. Maybe there is some mundane explanation, though, since there must be hundreds of Helvetica clones out there.
It’s just extremely boring Helvetica. Here’s the shuttle from another perspective (with “Discovery” in Helvetica Bold added for reference): http://i.imgur.com/kRxj2vj.jpg