Customer Reviews

NASA/ART: 50 Years of Exploration

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It is always a delight to see examples from the NASA fine arts collection, however, this book offers little more than earlier works drawing from the same well. The classic NASA art collection is "Eyewitness to Space," which covers the first part of the NASA fine arts program up to Apollo 11. It features large and well prepared versions of the works. It is sadly long out of print, but can be found with used book services for those seriously interested in the topic. A much more recent book, "NASA & the Exploration of Space," is readily available and is extremely rich with art, showing works that not only cover NASA's program up to the late 90's, but also several works from the Apollo era not present in "Eyewitness." Almost all the works shown in "NASA/Art" can be found in either of these two volumes, and in larger format. This book isn't a bad start for those not familiar with the NASA art program, but you would be just as well to start off with "NASA & the Exploration of Space."

I visited a NASA Art Exhibit in Huntsville, AL in 2009. I planned to use pictures from this exhibit for a presentation to my Astronomy club, Richmond Astronomical Society. I used this book to complete my presentation as it provided insights on the NASA art program. I love this book. As a baby boomer it brought back many memories of living the space race. It shows the excitement, anxiety, triumphs and heart break of the history of NASA through the crafts of art. If you are a baby boomer with a love of the space program this book is a great trip down memory lane. For a special effect, listen to Gustav Holst's Planets while reading and viewing this book.