“The Artist & The Astronaut” Illuminates Space and Human History

Wonderful article by Emily Carney Click here to go to article and see entire piece with photos.

During the 1960s — in both his career as a Marine and a NASA astronaut — Gerald P. Carr was self-admittedly isolated from the tumult of that decade. Many Apollo-era astronauts admitted as much in their autobiographies, including Apollo 15’s Al Worden and Last Man on the Moon Gene Cernan. Unsurprisingly, 80+ hour workweeks didn’t allow the astronaut corps much time to reflect upon issues encompassing civil rights, the Vietnam War, and political turmoil.

As a military member, Carr was dedicated to being a “Cold Warrior”; later, as an astronaut, he was dedicated to beating the Soviets in another public arena — spaceflight. While NASA was ultimately successful in beating its Cold War opponents to the Moon, the decade in full left little social resonances upon Carr, who spent the end of the decade trying to figure out what the hell had happened to Apollo 12’s Saturn V on its way to space (spoiler: it had been struck by lightning…twice. The crew did just fine thanks to an acronym we all know and love). Enter the 1970s, and Carr was also disconnected from upheavals in the world thanks to a new assignment: commander of Skylab 4, the longest spaceflight in duration to date aboard the first U.S. space station.

Launching in November 1973 and returning to Earth 84 days later in February 1974, Carr was inexorably changed by his time in space, not just because of the spectacular Earth views. During Skylab 4, Carr’s leadership was tested by his having to work out a better way of scheduling daily activities and experiments with mission planners and ground control, which led to a widely reported (and grossly inaccurate) media focus on how the crew had been “difficult” during their mission. This led to Carr becoming somewhat disillusioned with NASA. As the space agency strained from slow milestone to slow milestone in developing the nascent Space Shuttle program, Carr began to awaken to the social injustices perpetrated during the previous decade.

Part of Carr’s new awareness was thanks to his second wife, Pat Musick, an accomplished artist who tackled a variety of social issues, including feminism and the systematic displacement of Native American populations, in her impressive catalog of work. The unique marriage of Carr and Musick is discussed in the new film The Artist & The Astronaut, a film by Bill Muench. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING