Voyager 1 and 2 were sent to the outer solar system in the 1977s. They flew by Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus and Neptune. Titan is a planet-sized moon of Saturn. It has a thick nitrogen atmosphere. Photochemistry converts some of the atmospheric methane and ethene into liquid form which is thought to form lakes or oceans on the surface. The chemistry of Titan is like Earth's before life evolved.

Launched in 1962, its mission was a practice run to land on the moon and to take the first pictures of the moon unfortunately it crashed there.

The observatory contained four main telescopes on one spacecraft. It was launched in 1991 was used to detect pulsars and supernovae

Launched July 28,1964, with the purpose of photographing the moon. Crashed on the surface

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball, 22.8 inches in diameter, weighed only 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit Earth on its elliptical path. It began the space race

James Webb Space Telescope is the largest telescope ever built. It will be able to see the farthest of any telescope built so far. It will be possible to study distant worlds and map the universe’s earliest structures

Mariner C-2 1964 prototype built of the Mariner Series built of wood at JPL

Launched on August 27, 1962, Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit Venus. Closest approach to Venus, 34,773 km, occurred on December 14, 1962. It was the first spacecraft to fly by another planet. Its mission was to take temperature measurements of the planet and to measure interplanetary magnetic field and/or particle measurements

First flyby of Mercury and the last Mariner probe launched in 1973. It flew by Venus using the planet’s gravity to accelerate onto Mercury. It was also the first spacecraft to encounter two planets at close range and for 33 years the only spacecraft to photograph Mercury up close. It is still in orbit around the sun.

Venus Express (VEX) was the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Launched in November 2005, it arrived at Venus in April 2006 and began continuously sending back science data from its polar orbit around Venus. The observation over such long periods of time had never been done in previous missions to Venus and was key to a better understanding of the atmosphere.

Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, headed to the more distant parts of the solar system. It was one of the only nuclear powered spacecraft. It carried a gold plated plaque like Voyager. As it traveled, it was the fastest object to leave the earth at the time, reaching Mars in only 12 weeks. Part of its mission was to take pictures of zodiacal light. This is light from the sun reflected off of tiny dust particles. NASA kept contact until 2002. A spacecraft that was supposed to last twenty one months lasted three decades. It continues its journey as a ghost ship and will reach the star Aldebaran in two 2 million years.

Oil pastel on paper

The spacecraft Cassini built by NASA’s JPL lab encountered Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn in 2005. It took images of geyser-like jets that are spewing water vapor and ice from an underground ocean.

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/cassini/science/enceladus/

Collage 16” x20”

Collection of  Lisa Schoyer and Lee Johnson

Collection of Lisa Schoyer and Lee Johnson

A recreation of the LA river in the back of a pickup truck. Including running water. Done in collaboration with Lisa Schoyer.

Dodo,crab, valve, reactor, spine and coconut opener