Fallen Astronaut
Encyclopedia
Fallen Astronaut is an 8.5 cm (slightly over 3") aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 of an astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

 in a spacesuit which commemorates astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the advancement of space exploration. It is currently at Hadley Rille
Mons Hadley
Mons Hadley is a massif in the northern portion of the Montes Apenninus, a range in the northern hemisphere of the Moon. The selenographic coordinates of this peak are 26.5° N, 4.7° E. It has a height of 4.6 km and a maximum diameter of 25 km at the base.To the southwest of this mountain...

 on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

, having been placed there by the crew of Apollo 15
Apollo 15
Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...

 on August 1, 1971.

History

It was created by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck
Paul Van Hoeydonck
Paul Van Hoeydonck was a Belgian printmaker and painter, he studied both archeology and art history in Antwerp, Belgium. His first one man exhibition took place in that city in 1952. During the following years van Hoeydonck both lived and worked in Belgium and in the United States...

, who met astronaut David Scott
David Scott
David Randolph Scott is an American engineer, test pilot, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and former NASA astronaut and engineer, who was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963...

 at a dinner party. Van Hoeydonck was asked to create a small statuette to personally commemorate those astronauts and cosmonauts having lost their lives in the furtherance of space exploration. Van Hoeydonck was given a set of design restrictions: in addition to the physical requirements that the sculpture be both lightweight and sturdy, and that it be capable of withstanding the temperature extremes of the Moon, the statuette could not be identifiably male or female, nor of any identifiable ethnic group. Furthermore, in accordance with Scott's wish to avoid the commercialization of space, Van Hoeydonck's name would not be made public.

Plaque

On August 1, 1971, Fallen Astronaut was placed on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 15
Apollo 15
Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the American Apollo space program, the fourth to land on the Moon and the eighth successful manned mission. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous...

, along with a plaque bearing the names of eight American astronauts and six Soviet cosmonauts who had died:
  • Theodore Freeman
    Theodore Freeman
    Theodore Cordy Freeman was a NASA astronaut and a captain in the United States Air Force. He was killed in the crash of a T-38 jet, marking the first fatality among the American astronaut corps...

     (October 31, 1964, aircraft accident)
  • Charles Bassett
    Charles Bassett
    Charles Arthur "Art" Bassett, II was an American engineer and United States Air Force officer. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1963 and assigned to Gemini 9 but died in an airplane crash during training for his first spaceflight.-Early life and education:Bassett was born in Dayton, Ohio,...

     (February 28, 1966, aircraft accident)
  • Elliott See
    Elliott See
    Elliot McKay See, Jr. , was an American astronaut, selected in the second group of astronauts.Elliot See was born in Dallas, Texas and attended Highland Park High School. After initially attending The University of Texas where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, he then attended the United...

     (February 28, 1966, aircraft accident)
  • Gus Grissom
    Gus Grissom
    Virgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...

     (January 27, 1967, Apollo 1
    Apollo 1
    Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...

     fire
    )
  • Roger Chaffee (January 27, 1967, Apollo 1
    Apollo 1
    Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...

     fire
    )
  • Edward White
    Edward Higgins White
    Edward Higgins White, II was an engineer, United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. On June 3, 1965, he became the first American to "walk" in space. White died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the first manned Apollo mission at...

     (January 27, 1967, Apollo 1
    Apollo 1
    Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...

     fire
    )
  • Vladimir Komarov (April 24, 1967, Soyuz 1
    Soyuz 1
    Soyuz 1 was a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program. Launched into orbit on April 23, 1967 carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft...

     re-entry parachute failure
    )
  • Edward Givens
    Edward Givens
    Edward Galen "Ed" Givens Jr was an United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. He was selected in 1966 by NASA as a member of the 'Original 19' group....

     (June 6, 1967 automobile accident)
  • Clifton Williams
    Clifton Williams
    This article is about the American astronaut. For the composer, see Clifton Williams .Clifton Curtis 'C.C.' Williams was a NASA astronaut, a Naval Aviator, and a Major in the United States Marine Corps who was killed in a plane crash; he had never been to space...

     (October 5, 1967, aircraft accident)
  • Yuri Gagarin
    Yuri Gagarin
    Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

     (March 27, 1968, aircraft accident)
  • Pavel Belyayev
    Pavel Belyayev
    Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev , , was a Soviet fighter pilot with extensive experience in piloting different types of aircraft...

     (January 10, 1970, disease)
  • Georgi Dobrovolski (June 30, 1971, Soyuz 11
    Soyuz 11
    Soyuz 11 was the first manned mission to arrive at the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The mission arrived at the space station on June 7, 1971 and departed on June 30, 1971. The mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry, killing the...

     re-entry pressurization failure
    )
  • Viktor Patsayev
    Viktor Patsayev
    Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and had the unfortunate distinction of being part of the second crew to die during a space flight...

     (June 30, 1971, Soyuz 11
    Soyuz 11
    Soyuz 11 was the first manned mission to arrive at the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The mission arrived at the space station on June 7, 1971 and departed on June 30, 1971. The mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry, killing the...

     re-entry pressurization failure
    )
  • Vladislav Volkov
    Vladislav Volkov
    Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 11 missions. The second mission terminated fatally.-Biography:...

     (June 30, 1971, Soyuz 11
    Soyuz 11
    Soyuz 11 was the first manned mission to arrive at the world's first space station, Salyut 1. The mission arrived at the space station on June 7, 1971 and departed on June 30, 1971. The mission ended in disaster when the crew capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry, killing the...

     re-entry pressurization failure
    )


Commander of the Apollo 15 mission David Scott
David Scott
David Randolph Scott is an American engineer, test pilot, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and former NASA astronaut and engineer, who was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA in October 1963...

 notes that "Sadly, two names are missing (from the plaque), those of Valentin Bondarenko
Valentin Bondarenko
Valentin Vasiliyevich Bondarenko was a Soviet fighter pilot and cosmonaut. He died during a training accident in Moscow, USSR, in 1961. A crater on the Moon's far side is named for him.-Education and military training:...

 and Grigori Nelyubov
Grigori Nelyubov
Grigori Grigoyevich Nelyubov was a Soviet cosmonaut who was likely to have been the third or fourth person in space before his dismissal from the Soviet space program....

". Scott explains that because of the secrecy surrounding the Soviet space program at the time, they were unaware of their deaths.

In addition, two USAF
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 astronauts who died in 1967, Michael James Adams
Michael James Adams
Michael James Adams was an American aviator, engineer and USAF astronaut. He was the first US space mission fatality, according to the US definition.-Military experience:...

  who died in a X-15
North American X-15
The North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft/spaceplane was part of the X-series of experimental aircraft, initiated with the Bell X-1, that were made for the USAAF/USAF, NACA/NASA, and the USN. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and...

 accident and Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.
Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.
Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. was a United States Air Force officer and the first African-American astronaut.-Early years:...

, the first black astronaut and part of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory
Manned Orbiting Laboratory
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory , originally referred to as the Manned Orbital Laboratory, was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military reconnaissance space plane project...

 Program who died in a training accident, were not on the plaque. Both astronauts are remembered on the Space Mirror Memorial.

Aftermath

After the crew mentioned the statuette during their post-flight press conference, the National Air and Space Museum
National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It was established in 1976. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and...

 requested that a replica be made for public display. The crew agreed, under the condition that it was to be displayed "with good taste and without publicity". The replica was given to the Smithsonian Institution on April 17, 1972, the day after CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...

 revealed, during the broadcast of the Apollo 16 launch, the existence of the "fallen astronaut" and plaque as the first art on the Moon. It is now on display with a replica of the plaque in the Museum's National Mall
National Mall
The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...

 Building in the Space Race Wing, Gallery 114.

In May 1972, David Scott learned that Van Hoeydonck planned to make more replicas and sell them. Feeling that this would be a violation of the spirit of their agreement, Scott tried to persuade Van Hoeydonck to refrain. It was advertised, in a full-page advertisement in the July 1972 issue of "Art
in America" magazine, that 950 replicas of the "Fallen Astronaut" figurine signed by the sculptor were going to be sold by the Waddell Gallery of New York at a price of $750 apiece, a second edition at a lower but unspecified price, and a catalog edition at $5.

After the negative comments from NASA regarding the intended sale, Van Hoeydonck retracted his permission for it and none were sold.

In a letter dated September 2007, Paul Van Hoeydonck wrote that only 50 copies were ever made and that most of those are still in his posession, unsigned. With the exception of one copy, Van Hoeydonck writes that he had never received any money for a statue of the Fallen Astronaut despite many offers to do so.

Van Hoeydonck recalls a different set of events leading to the creation of the artifact. According to an interview with the artist in Belgian newspaper Le Soir
Le Soir
Le Soir is a Berliner Format Belgian newspaper. Le Soir was founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel. It is the most popular Francophone newspaper in Belgium, and considered a newspaper of record.-Editorial stance:...

, the statue was supposed to be a representation of all mankind, not simply fallen astronauts or cosmonauts. Ultimately, he has stated, Van Hoeydonck did not know the statue would be used as a memorial for the fallen space-goers.

See also


External links

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