Aug 11 2009
Astronomical art: Representing Planet Earth
By Jon Lomberg
10 days of science is thoroughly excited to introduce renowned ‘astronomy-inspired’ artist Jon Lomberg as its special new guest blogger.
Thirty-two years ago something extraordinary happened to me.
It was August 20, 1977 and I was sitting in the viewing stands at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. I was watching the launch of NASA’s Voyager 2 mission to the outer solar system and beyond. Atop the Titan Centaur rocket, the shiny and new Voyager spacecraft was inside the nose of the launch vehicle, packaged as carefully as a Ming vase (though worth a thousand times more!)
Jon Lomberg in 1979 standing next to a replica of the Voyager spacecraft at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Wrapped in its protective cocoon, the spacecraft awaited its fate.
