When MoMA purchased one of his space paintings, Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck ventured out to New York in 1962. Fascinated by space travel he began to think about a work of art on the moon. Before the launch of Apollo 11 he approached NASA with a proposal to take one of his sculptures to the moon. But NASA resolutely rejected the proposal. Nonetheless, on August 2, 1971, Apollo 15 Commander David Scott secretly placed a little plaque and a small sculpture in a crater to commemorate those astronauts who lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration.
