Fallen Astronaut statue and a name plaque left on the surface of the Moon by the crew of Apollo 15AlbaneseGummies327 OP t1_jcud9xw wrote
Fallen Astronaut is a 3.5-inch (8.9 cm) aluminum sculpture created by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck.
It is a stylized figure of an astronaut in a spacesuit, intended to commemorate the astronauts and cosmonauts who have died in the advancement of space exploration.
It was commissioned and placed on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 15 at Hadley Rille on August 2, 1971 UTC, next to a plaque listing 14 names of those who died up to that time. The statue lies on the ground among several footprints.
Due_Menu_893 t1_jcuj65l wrote
That's beautiful. I wonder, are there more artists who have their art on other worlds?
jeffwolfe t1_jcv968l wrote
It's not on a planet, but both copies of the Voyager Golden Record are now in interstellar space.
ergzay t1_jcvs0yx wrote
Note: This was placed as a private agreement between the artist and the astronauts and then later tried to claim that the agreement was different than what the astronauts claimed and he tried to later profit off of it and sell 950 copies of the statue.
From wikipedia:
> The crew kept the memorial's existence a secret until after completion of their mission. After public disclosure, the National Air and Space Museum requested a replica of the statue. Controversy soon followed, as Van Hoeydonck claimed a different understanding of the agreement made with the astronauts and attempted to sell up to 950 copies of the statue. He finally relented under pressure from NASA, which had a strict policy against commercial exploitation of the US government space program.
AlbaneseGummies327 OP t1_jcuweym wrote
Not that I know of.
benzoe590 t1_jcvn5g6 wrote
There’s one other one that comes to mind, that being the “Moon Museum”. It’s a ceramic wafer about an inch wide, and is believed to have been hidden in the gold blanketing of Apollo 12’s lander legs.
A couple prominent artists were featured on it including Andy Warhol.
AlbaneseGummies327 OP t1_jcvnaja wrote
That's cool, I learned something new there!
mrgreenw t1_jcvvh1a wrote
Elon launched a Tesla into space if that counts
Bipogram t1_jcz5s2w wrote
Not quite in the same vein, but there are graffiti in various places:
https://eeggs.com/items/9064.html
And, I'm told, on a PCB of Beagle2's avionics there's "We come in pieces".
<such trenchant wit>
Due_Menu_893 t1_jczrbvl wrote
I like how the Mars perseverance rover has an inspiring message in the parachute. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/mars-rovers-giant-parachute-carried-secret-message
[deleted] t1_jcv9o2r wrote
[removed]
NetworkLlama t1_jcvnrew wrote
Every time I see Komarov's name, I get angry. Most astronaut deaths can be traced to a bad decision somewhere, either in design or construction, and none of them expected to die in the ways that they did. Even for Challenger, they thought the odds were with them for a safe flight. Komarov's situation was so blatantly based on politics--everyone was afraid of Brezhnev's wrath in case of a delayed launch--that he knew he was going to die, and he preferred that it be him instead of close friend and national/world hero Yuri Gagarin.
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