Last week, NASA astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut from its international partners worked hand-in-hand on a beautiful art project with the bravest heroes of all, patients at Texas Children’s Cancer Center.
As part of NASA’s Spacesuit Art Project and the Periwinkle Arts In Medicine program at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, NASA astronauts Jack Fischer, Nicole Stott, Mike Foreman, Doug Wheelock and Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Nikolay iTikhonov spent the morning with the children painting on fabric pieces that will be used to create the VICTORY and EXPLORATION art spacesuits.
“The opportunity to work with NASA and its international partners on this incredible project is such an honor,” said Carol Herron, Periwinkle Arts In Medicine program coordinator at Texas Children’s Cancer Center. “For our patients to create amazing art with these amazing astronauts and then see their work in space will be truly inspiring.”
The EXPLORATION suit, the fourth spacesuit of the Spacesuit Art Project, one of the two spacesuits worked on last week, can be seen on permanent display in the following months at Space Center Houston, NASA’s Johnson Space Center visitor center.
View photos from last week’s event, including a shot of one of the spacesuits below.
The VICTORY spacesuit, the fifth spacesuit created, symbolizes the end of the cancer journey, something every staff member, patient and family at Texas Children’s Cancer Center strives for. Getting each patient to that moment where they ring the end-of-treatment bell is everyone’s goal – the ultimate victory.
The VICTORY spacesuit cover is planned to be worn on the outside of a Russian Orlan Spacesuit and is planned to be jettisoned into space from the International Space Station during a Russian spacewalk later in 2018 as the first ever orbiting art exhibit in space.
You can follow the Spacesuit Art Project’s progress on Social Media at:
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/spacesuitart/
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+SpacesuitprojectOrg
Twitter: https://twitter.com/spacesuitart
More about the NASA Spacesuit Art Project:
The Spacesuit Art Project began in Houston through a partnership between NASA, the Arts in Medicine program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and spacesuit company ILC Dover to help raise awareness to the issues surrounding childhood cancer and to reveal the positive connection between the arts and the healing process. The project has grown into a global collaboration of the five international space agencies that built the International Space Station and pediatric cancer patients and hospital’s Arts in Medicine Programs from the respective partner countries in the United States, Canada, Russia, Europe, and Japan. It continues to grow globally with this Texas Children’s Cancer Center and Periwinkle Foundation event, and with more and more hospital participation around the world. The Project brings childhood cancer patients, their families, doctors, hospital staff, International scientists, engineers, astronauts and cosmonauts together through this unique endeavor. It is an amazing story of human triumph and hope by combining science, technology, the arts, and the indomitable human spirit. The spacesuits are a stunningly beautiful representation of what can happen when art, science, and the healing process unite. All of the spacesuit replicas travel to events, museums, conferences and other relevant places as a communications tool to help to raise awareness to the issues surrounding childhood cancer.
The Periwinkle Arts In Medicine program at Texas Children’s Cancer Center has been dedicated to bringing the healing power of the arts to patients throughout their cancer journey for over 20 years. To learn more about the program at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, visit txch.org/arts-in-medicine.
