Reading the BBC news website I saw the above story and wondered who they meant. Was one of those wonderful astronomical artists, perhaps David A. Hardy or Lynette R. Cook, packing it in? Or did they mean Alan Bean or Alexei Leonov, space pioneers and painters?
When I read the story, I learned that the artist was Nasser Azam, "who hit the headlines in 2008 when he painted in space". Azam sold the painting for £223,000 and is now planning a trip to Antarctica for a new project. I hope he has a great time.
There is one little nitpick I'd like to make: Nasser Azam has never been into space!
Azam painted his work on a flight in a Russian cargo 'plane. During its flight it manoeuvered through a series of parabolic arcs allowing brief periods of microgravity. According to the BBC it climbed as high as 23 000 feet. Space officially begins 100 km above the Earth's surface, so Azam's space adventure took place 93 km too low.
The BBC website features several stories about his career and these use statements like "since Azam returned from his trip to space", I find these disappointing, showing a dismal scientific illiteracy by such a respected institution.
0 comments:
Post a Comment