Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space (when he entered orbit in the Soviet Union's Vostok on April 12, 1961). He, like all of the early astronauts and cosmonauts, was a soldier (many were and continue to be Air Force or Navy pilots). This isn’t surprising because the ‘space race’ was essentially an extension of the Cold War.

Military personnel are the ideal candidates for space travel because they are highly disciplined, physically fit and willing to take enormous risks on behalf of their fellow citizens. And because many of the first attempts at manned space travel ended in tragedy, the soldiers who bravely gave their lives died as honorably as had they been killed in combat.

As the years have passed, and technology has advanced, the element of risk has decreased remarkably. Though there have been disasters such as the Challenger and Columbia explosions, space travel can be said to be relatively safe. Safe enough for people other than soldiers to inhabit the role of ‘astronaut’. Over the past twenty years we have sent dozens of civilians into space, including a politician, a Saudi Prince, a journalist, countless scientists and researchers, a half-dozen wealthy business persons, and even two school teachers! Recently astronaut John Glenn returned to space just to see the effects of space on an elderly man.

When you think about it in that light, there is no reason not to send an artist into space.

Now let me explain why it is absolutely necessary to send an artist into space!

An artist brings a lifetime of experience toward looking at and making images and artworks. They can show us things that we normally do not see upon first glance. Who better to describe the incredible vastness and strangeness of another world than an artist?

Still some skeptical people might say, “well there’s not much up there on the moon to look at but rocks and dust, what difference would it make if we sent an artist up there? Hasn’t the moon and much of the rest of outer space has been already well documented with photographs?”

That is partly true. But all these photographs were either taken by soldiers trained to use cameras, or by robots programmed to take photographs. They were told what to look for, and trained to take pictures of it when they found it. In other words, they already had an idea of what the photographs would look like before they were even taken.

But what if we sent an artist there to describe the experience? What kind of photographs might Yousuf Karsh, Weegee, Diane Arbus, Larry Clark, Jeff Wall, Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz, Dorothea Lange or David LaChapelle make?

These photographers are important because they took pictures of everyday life, but in a way that many of us had never seen before.

Let me put this example another way; how effective of a soldier would a photographer be if you simply trained him or her to use a machine gun?

Early explorers understood the value of bringing an artist along on their great voyages. They had to pursuade Kings and Queens to fund expensive expeditions that might not return. Like today, people were skeptical of the value of sailing across the ocean. Paintings and drawings of the fantastic landscapes and people the voyagers encountered helped to convey the incredible experiences to the people back home, and opened their imaginations to the possibilities that awaited them.

Sure, artists weren’t always there on the first voyage. Often a soldier who was also an amateur artist would make sketches, just like the first astronauts took photographs. But by the second or third trip, a professional visual artist would be there.

The French artist Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues was the first European artist to arrive in North America, in 1564. He attempted to describe life in and around the ill-fated French colony, near what's now Jacksonville, Florida. It was only the second French expedition to the New World. Imagine if the United States had sent Andy Warhol or Norman Rockwell on its second voyage to the moon?!

2009 marks the 40th anniversary of our first steps on the lunar surface. Isn’t it about time that we send an artist there?

 

Thank you.

Please help send artist Michael Markowsky to the Moon.

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