The First (and Only) Art Museum on the Moon

 

Date: November 1969

Key Characters: Apollo 12 crew, artists including Andy Warhol and Forrest Myers.

Historical Reference: "The Moon Museum" by Forrest Myers.

The Story: The first piece of art taken to another world was a tiny ceramic tile, no bigger than a postage stamp, called the "Moon Museum." Conceived by artist Forrest Myers, the tile featured miniature artworks from six prominent artists of the era, including Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Rauschenberg. The plan was to have it officially attached to the Apollo 12 lunar module, but NASA refused. Undeterred, Myers had an engineer secretly attach the tiny museum to the leg of the Intrepid lander. The Apollo 12 astronauts were reportedly aware of the plan but never officially confirmed it. Assuming it wasn't knocked off during the landing, the "Moon Museum" remains on the Ocean of Storms, a tiny, clandestine gallery of 1960s pop art residing permanently on the lunar surface.