The Astronautical Art Initiative is a non-profit organisation on a mission to preserve and share our common artistic heritage in outer space
We collect, document and archive the digital records of humanity's artistic artefacts in space. This archive is a testimony of our developing spacefaring culture.
We recently documented and added these three new works to our archive:
Pioneer Woman
A small sculpture of a female bust wearing a head scarf. It flew as an art payload on NASA's Orion spacecraft's inaugural flight.
Ed Dwight
ARTSAT2: DESPATCH
ArtSat2 DESPATCH is an art object cast into deep space that composes poetry. The poetry is transmitted on its continuous wave (CW) beacon.
Tama Art University
Orbital Reflector
A highly reflective, diamond shaped inflatable nonfunctional satellite. The work encourages us to look up at the sky with a renewed sense of wonder.
Trevor Paglen
What is happening at our sister organisation
thespacecraft.agency
crafting art in outer space
Our sister organisation The Spacecraft Agency is a multidisciplinary collaborative agency dedicated to crafting and curating art projects in outer space to actively engage the arts in the development of space exploration.
TechEdSat-11
2024
The TechEdSat-11 spacecraft is the host of our largest collective art project yet. In true 'Golden Record' style, this innovative NASA technology demonstration mission hosts its own golden plaque featuring art contributions spanning generations and continents, each inspired by Carl Sagan's original Voyager Golden Record.
This mission is a collaboration between The Spacecraft Agency, NASA Ames Research Center and Draw Together. It was launched on July 3rd 2024 onboard a Firefly Alpha Rocket as part of the 'Noise of Summer' mission.
In support of the Space 18th SDG proposal
“Only by expanding the domain of life into space can we fulfill the 17 SDGs on Earth in the long term. Therefore, the Space Renaissance International and the National Space Society, in partnership with many other space organizations, urge UN COPUOS State Parties to develop and introduce a resolution for a Space 18th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), calling for the expansion of community life into space to achieve universal and sustainable development for the whole humanity, life, and the life support environment, on Earth and beyond.”
