For nearly 50 years NASA has commissioned artists to document its missions and projects. Seventy of the 3,000 works in its collection are in a traveling exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
NASA Art Collection Covers 50 Years of Space Exploration
Astronauts John Young and Gus Grissom are suited for the first flight of the Gemini program in March 1965. NASA loaned Norman Rockwell a Gemini spacesuit in order to make this painting as accurate as possible. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
Martin Hoffman captures astronaut suit-up through the television screens in the media area at the Kennedy Space Center. The launch pad can be seen in the distance. (NASA Art Program)
Peter Hurd recorded the launch of Skylab, a rocket modified to allow astronauts to live and work in orbit. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
Mitchell Jamieson captures astronaut Gordon Cooper as he steps away from his Mercury spacecraft and into the bright sunlight on the deck of the recovery ship after 22 orbits of Earth. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
Robert McCall imagines the sight of Apollo 8's rocket engine firing to propel the spacecraft out of lunar orbit for its return to Earth. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
James Wyeth's watercolor depicts the early days of manned spaceflight, when launch technicians worked in a domed, concrete-reinforced blockhouse and used a bicycle for check-up trips to the launch pad. (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum)
William Wegman's signature canines pose as astronauts. One peers out of a space station while the other conducts a spacewalk. NASA loaned Wegman a model of a spacesuit to use in his work. (NASA Art Program)
The basis of Daniel Zeller's drawing is the intricate surface of Saturn's moon Titan, as recorded by the Cassini spacecraft. Cassini arrived at Saturn in July 2004 after a seven-year voyage, beginning a four-year mission. (NASA Art Program)
Chakaia Booker used rubber -and pieces of a space shuttle tire donated by NASA - to commemorate the lost Columbia crew. (NASA Art Program)
Tina York graphically depicts the principles of fluid dynamics, the movement of gases as a solid body passes through them. York researched this concept at California's NASA Ames Research Center while participating in the NASA Art Program. (NASA Art Progra