Falling astronaut
Fallen Astronaut ( German "Fallen Astronaut" ) is the only work of art on the moon . It consists of a 8.4-centimeter sculpture made of aluminum , the one involved in an accident astronaut in a space suit is, and a metal plaque with the names of fourteen deceased US astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts.
History of origin
Fallen Astronaut was created in 1971 by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck , who met Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott at a dinner party . Van Hoeydonck was commissioned to create a statuette to commemorate those astronauts and cosmonauts who lost their lives taking part in space exploration . The conditions for Van Hoeydonck's work were: the sculpture should be compact and robust to withstand the extreme temperature conditions on the moon, the statuette should neither depict a man nor a woman, nor should it be assigned to any identifiable ethnic group. In addition, in order to avoid commercialization of space, Van Hoeydonck's authorship should not be published.
During the Apollo 15 mission, the work of art was set up in early August 1971 by the two astronauts Dave Scott and James Irwin at the landing site on the moon near the Hadley Apennines, together with the commemorative plaque.
The plaque lists the names of eight American astronauts and six Soviet cosmonauts who perished during their active days (in the original alphabetically sorted by surname):
- Theodore Freeman († October 31, 1964, aircraft accident )
- Charles Bassett († February 28, 1966, aircraft accident )
- Elliot See († February 28, 1966, aircraft accident )
- Gus Grissom († January 27, 1967, Apollo 1 fire )
- Roger Chaffee († January 27, 1967, Apollo 1 fire )
- Edward White († January 27, 1967, Apollo 1 fire )
- Vladimir Komarov († April 24, 1967, parachute accident during landing with Soyuz 1 )
- Edward Givens († June 6, 1967, car accident )
- Clifton Williams († October 5, 1967, aircraft accident )
- Yuri Gagarin († March 27, 1968, aircraft accident )
- Pavel Belyayev († January 10, 1970, death after peritonitis )
- Georgi Dobrowolski († June 30, 1971, cabin pressure drop on approach for landing with Soyuz 11 )
- Viktor Pazajew († June 30, 1971, cabin pressure drop when approaching Soyuz 11 )
- Wladislaw Volkov († June 30, 1971, cabin pressure drop when approaching Soyuz 11 )
The deaths of the Soviet astronaut candidate Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko in 1961 and Grigory Grigoryevich Nelyubov in 1966 were kept secret until the 1980s; Scott later regretted that their names could not be taken into account.
After the Apollo 15 crew mentioned the work of art in a press conference after the moon flight, the National Air and Space Museum requested that a replica be made for the public. The team agreed to this request on the condition that it should be done “with good taste and without advertising”. In April 1972 Van Hoeydonck made a replica of the Fallen Astronaut for the museum , which can now be viewed with a copy of the metal plate.
In an interview with the Belgian newspaper De Morgen , Van Hoeydonck explained that he thought the statuette was a representation of all humanity on the moon, not just the dead astronauts or cosmonauts, he did not know that the statuette was a memorial to the fallen space travelers was intended.
Replicas
In Europe, Van Hoeydonck made a copy of his small sculpture available to the Dunkirk art museum LAAC , for whose sculpture park he had a large version cast in an aluminum works there.
See also
Web links
- Transcription of NASA News Release 72-189 (September 15, 1972)
- NASA: Official NASA photo of the falling astronaut on the moon
- NASA: Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Journal
Individual evidence
- ↑ Leonov, Alexei; Scott, David (2013). Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-1480449237 .