A brief Saturday rant.

How many of you read the Saturday New York Times print edition thoroughly enough to see the article on page C5, titled “Hey, Picasso Never Made It to the Moon”? A loopy headline, you say, and you are correct. But it’s also obvious. When the first men walked on the moon, Picasso was 88. And another thing about Picasso – he wasn’t an astronaut.

So what is this all about? It’s about the unmanned SpaceX rocket named Odysseus, which took off Thursday and is headed for a soft landing on the moon. And that, along with whatever else Elon Musk stuffed into the rocket are 125 “miniature moon sculptures” by Jeff Koons. According to the article, this will be the first “authorized” works of art to be placed on the moon, and Koons expects this will “stand in perpetuity as a heritage site”. The article does not say who authorizes art work on the moon, and it doesn’t mention anything about who determines what is a “heritage site” on the moon.

But OK, who cares? (I know this is what you are saying.)

The article goes on to praise and insult Koons – saying his sculptures have had varying reviews from critics. But it also talk about a Christie’s auction in 2019, which saw a 1986 sculpture by Koons (a “silver bunny”) sell for $91 million. Now, I don’t know if any of that $91 million went to Koons or not, but it is an extraordinary amount of money for anyone to pay for a rabbit. (See photo at bottom)

Now, remember that this moon venture isn’t just Elon Musk – this venture was supported (financially and otherwise) by NASA, and, according to a CBS on line article, “the flight is a trailblazer of sorts, for the agency’s Artemis program, which plans to send astronauts to the moon’s south polar region in the next few years. NASA instruments aboard Odysseus will study the lunar environment and test needed technologies for downstream missions.” In addition to the NASA equipment, the rocket will carry 6 commercial loads, including the sculptures. The other types of cargo, privately sponsored, to relate to space travel – cameras, insulated blankets being tested for space use and so on.

Back to Jeff Koons and the Times article. I quote: “The artist said that launching his miniature moons was only Phase 1. Two other components of the project will remain on Earth: a larger version of each sculpture encased in glass that collectors can take home, and a corresponding NFT showing the installation of the lunar landing.”

So, this is meant to be a money making venture for Jeff Koons and – to be sure – also for Elon Musk, who must either (or both) have received a chunk of money (or pieces of sculpture which apparently amount to the same thing) from Koons for the privilege of taking his “authorized” sculpture to the moon, and maybe a share of the proceeds of the sale of the larger replicas and the NFTs. Why should what is basically a NASA venture, paid for by you and me, also include this rather tawdry money making scheme?

One more thing from the Times, which says that some of the information about Koons’ sculptures and his thoughts regarding this venture come from the “Artemis Accords”, which of course I have never heard of but which, according to the article: “protects historically important sites and artifacts in outer space”. To quote myself: “Say, what??”

When I read “Artemis Accords”, I thought (as I suppose I was supposed to think) about the Abraham Accords, which is actually something that is important. But I didn’t think about the word “Artemis”. Until I read the CBS article and realized that NASA has an “Artemis Program” to get men on the moon.

Is the Artemis Accords a NASA project, as well? I assumed it was not, but I decided to Google it. Here goes: “The Artemis Accords is a nonbinding multilateral agreement between the United States government and other world governments participating in the Artemis program, an American led effort to return humans to the moon by 2026….”

Thirty five countries have signed on, and it is actually a comprehensive agreement attempting to avoid national rivalries in space. Included in its many serious components are several that talk about things like heritage sites, and registration of items left on the moon and elsewhere. But my quick read tells me that a heritage site would be, say, a particular landing site, and the items remaining in space would be scientific items – things relevant to the missions.

There is another part of the accords which talks about the elimination of what they call “space debris”. So, tell me – where do the Koons’ sculptures stand under the Accords?

A final thought. Odysseus is an odd name. As I recall, his trip was far from direct and problem free.