In his book Apollo: An Eyewitness Account, Alan Bean says
of Reaching for the Stars,
"In one sense this is a painting of a universal astronaut,
symbolizing everyone who flew in Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab,
and Apollo-Soyuz. It also represents those who fly on space shuttles
and will fly on a space station and on future missions only dreamed
about at this time. The astronaut is an emissary of us all, soaring
away from ourplanet earth... But in a broader view [Reaching
for the Stars symbolizes] all of us who posses a dedicated and
adventurous spirit no matter what our interests or age."
Countersigned by 24 astronauts including Alan Bean - John Glenn
- James Lovell
Scott Carpenter - Wally Schirra - Buzz Aldrin - Alan Shepard. |