Focus on this artwork and discuss the History.
The concept for Moon Museum was brainstormed by sculptor Forrest "Frosty" Myers. He stated that "My idea was to get six great artists together and make a tiny little museum that would be on the moon." Myers attempted several times to get his project sanctioned by NASA. He claims the agency gave him the runaround and, Myers states, "They never said no, I just could not get them to say anything." Instead of going through the official channels, he was forced to take the back route and try to smuggle it on board.Myers contacted Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), a non-profit group that was linking artists with engineers to create new works. Through E.A.T., Myers was introduced to some scientists from Bell Laboratories, specifically Fred Waldhauer. Using techniques normally used to produce telephone circuits, the scientists etched the drawings Myers had gathered onto small ceramic wafers. Either 16 or 20 of these wafers were created, with one going on the Apollo 12 lunar lander and the rest, copies of the original, handed out to the artists and others involved in the project.When NASA dithered whether the wafer would be allowed onto the module, Waldhauer devised another plan. Waldhauer knew a Grumman Aircraft engineer who was working on the Apollo 12 lander module, and he proved willing to place the wafer on it. Myers asked Waldhauer how he would know if the art actually made it onto the lander, and was told that the Grumman engineer would send Myers a telegram when the wafer was in place. At 3:35 p.m. on November 12, 1969, less than two days before Apollo 12 took off, Myers received a telegram at his house from Cape Canaveral, Florida stating "YOUR ON' A.O.K. ALL SYSTEMS GO," and signed "JOHN F."The existence of the work was not revealed until Myers informed The New York Times, which ran an article on the project on November 22, 1969, while Apollo 12 was in transit from the Moon back to Earth.
Myers Grumman Forrest "Frosty" Myers The New York Times ceramic Bell Laboratories Grumman Aircraft Cape Canaveral, Florida wafer Apollo 1 Fred Waldhauer Apollo 12 NASA Experiments in Art and Technology telegram