The Final Impossibility: Man's Tracks on the Moon (Two Men on the
Moon), 1969

In autumn of 1968, Rockwell received notice that NASA wanted him to record man's first steps on the moon. Two months later, in a talk titled "Lunacy?" he shared his thoughts about the space program with fellow members of his Monday Evening Club. He questioned whether the space program was a "lunatic idea now when we in America are confronted with the problems of poverty, racial unrest, national security and the Vietnam War?" He reminded his colleagues that the cost of the development and completion of the lunar module alone, destined to be jettisoned into space, was two billion dollars. He then posed the following questions for discussion: "First, why do we do it? Is it to keep up with Russia, or to find new worlds? Is it because of humanity's instinct to aspire? Second, would it be better to put all this thought, energy and money to improving conditions here on Earth?"

In March 1969, Rockwell joked with United Press International reporter Joanne Oman, "If Michelangelo were alive, he'd be interested in this shot to the moon." In August, Rockwell went to the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston to do research and take photos for his illustration of the now historic July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 moon landing. The painting of commander Neil A. Armstrong standing on the moon's surface and pilot Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr. descending from the lunar module "Eagle" was, he said, the most complicated and difficult of his space program pictures.

Odds & Ends:
In 1972, Rockwell was asked, "Are you looking forward to doing the first step on Mars?" to which he responded: "Well I'm 78. I don't know if I'll be here but I'd love to do it. Sure, and I will if I'm still able and if they get around to doing it."

The Final Impossibility: Man's Tracks on the Moon (Two Men on the Moon), Norman Rockwell, 1969. Oil on canvas, 42½" x 61½". Story illustration for Look, December 30, 1969. Collection of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.