"Anticipation" and the Return of Crewed Space Flight to the U.S.
SpaceX and NASA are officially targeting May 27, 2020, for the first manned flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. This will be the first crewed rocket launch from U.S. soil since the Space Shuttle retired in 2011. If not for the current Covid-19 situation, I would be at that launch cheering my lungs out. Over a year ago I submitted several paintings to a competition to select artwork to decorate the Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy Space Center.
My painting 'Anticipation' was one of five artworks selected. The prize? Attendance at the first manned launch out of KSP since 2011, a tour of the Crew Quarters, and, of course, knowing that a 48 x 72 inch (122x182 cm) print of 'Anticipation' will be one of the last things the Astronauts see before boarding their rocket! I will be able to visit a later manned launch when KSC is open to the public again. Eight-year-old me would be absolutely freaking out. (Not that 45-year-old me isn't...)
Yesterday morning, I woke up to this image from the full dress rehearsal for the upcoming launch in my inbox. Okay... now 45-year-old me is officially freaking out!I remember, as a kid, camping out on the floor with my family in front of the television to watch the Space Shuttle launches. I guarantee my kids and I will be camped out in front of our monitors in anticipation of Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 lifting off with two astronauts on board, headed to the International Space Station.
