See the moon through the eyes of an artist

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On July 30, 1775, after a three-year trip around the globe across the Southern Ocean, Captain James Cook returned to Portsmouth, England, to welcome a hero. With him aboard HMS resolution was a young artist, William Hodges. During the trip, Hodges put paper towels to capture some of the first images of Tahiti, Easter Island and the peoples, plants and animals of Polynesia.

In 1830, the American painter George Catlin accompanied General William Clark on a diplomatic mission along the Missouri River to Indian tribes Mandan, Cheyenne and Crow. His precise and sensitive portrayal of Native Americans on this trip had a profound impact, particularly in Europe, where his paintings were extremely popular and changed their attitude towards a people considered essentially "savage".

In an era before portable photography, it was essential to involve an artist in a great expedition to advance science and share the experience with the public. Today, with digital SLRs, smartphone cameras and drones, explorers document everything themselves. To bring an artist into an expeditionary team now seems strange and outdated.

On September 17, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk introduced Japanese billionaire and entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa as the first paying passenger of his company's new BFR rocket during a trip to the moon and back . But Musk's audacity in making this announcement, more than five years before the proposed date for the trip, was not the most surprising thing of the press conference. This happened about 20 minutes after the start of the event, when Maezawa revealed that not only had he bought all the seats for this trip, but that artists were accompanying him.

"In 2023, as a host, I would like to invite six to eight artists from around the world to join me for this mission on the moon," said Maezawa. "These artists will be asked to create something after they return to Earth, and their masterpieces will inspire the dreamer in all of us."

Is it a waterfall?

SpaceX has undoubtedly proven capable of revolutionizing the launch industry by efficiently delivering satellites into orbit at a lower cost than any other supplier. But she is also willing to introduce fantasy into a company that has long been developing a serious image of rocket scientists and fighter pilots always showing their "good things".

Musk willingly admits that SpaceX has named the Falcon 9 rocket for the Millennium Falcon Star Wars movies as autonomous drones Just read the instructions and Of course I still love you were inspired by the work of sci-fi author Iain Banks, and the idea of ​​launching a Tesla roadster into orbit with David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on the radio was designed because the charge useful of a new rocket concrete block "seemed extremely boring."

Elon Musk knows how to capture the public's imagination. He understands that sharing information about cost savings or technical progress, while necessary, does not inspire fear, curiosity, reverence or any emotion.

It's been 50 years since the crew of Apollo 8 broadcast the poetry of the creation of the King James Bible orbiting the moon, and 41 years since a team of scientists sent a gold disc in a journey in interstellar space. humanity. Was it necessary for a scientific purpose? Not at all. But they engaged people directly and allowed them to embark on the unknown with the discoverers, even though they themselves had stayed behind.

The Mercury space capsule of the early 1960s was designed to allow NASA astronauts to safely go into orbit at the beginning of the US space program. Its first version lacked windows to protect the structural integrity of the spacecraft. The astronauts who had to fly in this capsule rebelled against the idea of ​​not being able to see and document their vision of the Earth from space, and the designers yielded. And even though they were not trained artists, these and later astronauts expressed their wonder at what they experienced, in a language close to poetry:

"Suddenly, behind the moon, in long slow motion moments of immense majesty, emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a delicate blue sky sphere adorned with veils of white swirls, rising progressively like a little pearl in a thick sea of ​​black mystery, "recalls astronaut Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission." It takes more than a moment to fully realize that this is the Earth. .. at home."

As the cost of access to space continues to decline, more and more non-scientists will have the opportunity to look at the stars, the moon and our world from a former point of view reserved for a handful of people. By including artists in this select group, Elon Musk and Yusaku Maezawa have taken the first step in a journey that shares all of creation with humanity.

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On July 30, 1775, after a three-year trip around the globe across the Southern Ocean, Captain James Cook returned to Portsmouth, England, to welcome a hero. With him aboard HMS resolution was a young artist, William Hodges. During the trip, Hodges put paper towels to capture some of the first images of Tahiti, Easter Island and the peoples, plants and animals of Polynesia.

In 1830, the American painter George Catlin accompanied General William Clark on a diplomatic mission along the Missouri River to Indian tribes Mandan, Cheyenne and Crow. His precise and sensitive portrayal of Native Americans on this trip had a profound impact, particularly in Europe, where his paintings were extremely popular and changed their attitude towards a people considered essentially "savage".

In an era before portable photography, it was essential to involve an artist in a great expedition to advance science and share the experience with the public. Today, with digital SLRs, smartphone cameras and drones, explorers document everything themselves. To bring an artist into an expeditionary team now seems strange and outdated.

On September 17, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk introduced Japanese billionaire and entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa as the first paying passenger of his company's new BFR rocket during a trip to the moon and back . But Musk's audacity in making this announcement, more than five years before the proposed date for the trip, was not the most surprising thing of the press conference. This happened about 20 minutes after the start of the event, when Maezawa revealed that not only had he bought all the seats for this trip, but that artists were accompanying him.

"In 2023, as a host, I would like to invite six to eight artists from around the world to join me for this mission on the moon," said Maezawa. "These artists will be asked to create something after they return to Earth, and their masterpieces will inspire the dreamer in all of us."

Is it a waterfall?

SpaceX has undoubtedly proven capable of revolutionizing the launch industry by efficiently delivering satellites into orbit at a lower cost than any other supplier. But she is also willing to introduce fantasy into a company that has long been developing a serious image of rocket scientists and fighter pilots always showing their "good things".

Musk willingly admits that SpaceX has named the Falcon 9 rocket for the Millennium Falcon Star Wars movies as autonomous drones Just read the instructions and Of course I still love you were inspired by the work of sci-fi author Iain Banks, and the idea of ​​launching a Tesla roadster into orbit with David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on the radio was designed because the charge useful of a new rocket concrete block "seemed extremely boring."

Elon Musk knows how to capture the public's imagination. He understands that sharing information about cost savings or technical progress, while necessary, does not inspire fear, curiosity, reverence or any emotion.

It's been 50 years since the crew of Apollo 8 broadcast the poetry of the creation of the King James Bible orbiting the moon, and 41 years since a team of scientists sent a gold disc in a journey in interstellar space. humanity. Was it necessary for a scientific purpose? Not at all. But they engaged people directly and allowed them to embark on the unknown with the discoverers, even though they themselves had stayed behind.

The Mercury space capsule of the early 1960s was designed to allow NASA astronauts to safely go into orbit at the beginning of the US space program. Its first version lacked windows to protect the structural integrity of the spacecraft. The astronauts who had to fly in this capsule rebelled against the idea of ​​not being able to see and document their vision of the Earth from space, and the designers yielded. And even though they were not trained artists, these and later astronauts expressed their wonder at what they experienced, in a language close to poetry:

"Suddenly, behind the moon, in long slow motion moments of immense majesty, emerges a sparkling blue and white jewel, a delicate blue sky sphere adorned with veils of white swirls, rising progressively like a little pearl in a thick sea of ​​black mystery, "recalls astronaut Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission." It takes more than a moment to fully realize that this is the Earth. .. at home."

As the cost of access to space continues to decline, more and more non-scientists will have the opportunity to look at the stars, the moon and our world from a former point of view reserved for a handful of people. By including artists in this select group, Elon Musk and Yusaku Maezawa have taken the first step in a journey that shares all of creation with humanity.