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Space ~ Art ~ Healing
Some Special Extras 🚀🎨
Maria Lanas ~ "Before I Forget" Stories
Our own Maria Lanas has compiled the beautiful story of some highlights of her experience so far with the Space for Art Foundation. She's called this compilation, journal or blog if you will, "Before I Forget Stories." We are happy that she has taken the time to remember these moments herself. They've brought back wonderful memories for our whole team and we're happy to be able to share them here with all of you too. Enjoy!
Art and Science: the Perfect Combination ~
Stories of Space for Art projects by our friend Sebastián Musso in Argentina
Sebastián Musso, part of the Space for Art Foundation community in Argentina, has always believed in the power of art as a tool to communicate science. In 2019, for the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, he organized an exhibition of paintings that were displayed in various venues in Mar del Plata, La Plata, San Martín de los Andes, and Tupungato (Argentina), and in Antofagasta (Chile), through 2024. Art galleries, science museums, cafés, planetariums, or vineyards all became settings for a combination of art celebrating science and space exploration — and the latter becoming even more beautiful through art.
For the Argos Mission (Brazil – 2025), the artistic presence was even stronger. Four artists from Mar del Plata—Sergio Ralli, Silvia Novoa, Pablo Lizalde, and Laura Vásquez—embellished the mission coveralls worn by the three crew members during the 6 days of the analog space experience. Julia Moreno Artigas also sent a hand-painted shirt from Spain, featuring a Martian Valles Marineris on the front.
Postcards From Mars
Together with the Space for Art Foundation, we encouraged children from different countries (Argentina, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Romania) to draw postcards as if they were on Mars and write to their loved ones on Earth. Not only did the drawings show imagination, but they also reflected the concepts learned after the workshops that were given before and during these artistic sessions. Children in schools, in their homes, and also adults who joined the activity painted the postcards using different techniques. Some schools took advantage of the project to organize exhibitions, to dress the children as astronauts, and to greatly expand the educational proposal, and there were even some that awarded prizes to the postcards that a jury of teachers decided were the best. Nicole Stott was present in all the activities with a beautiful and inspiring video greeting.
During the Mission, Victoria Cola, one of the crew members, painted a mural in their Habitat Marte (Natal – Brazil), leaving there the memory of a Martian landscape and of the activity in August 2025.
This first analog mission in South America included a person with a disability and this drew the attention of many people, including artists. Illustrators from Argentina, Uruguay, and Mexico joined a graphic campaign supporting access to space for people with disabilities.
Galileo Base
The Galileo Base is a facility that aims to be a space simulation habitat that provides a dynamic simulated environment. It could function as a simulated work setting for a space station orbiting Earth, Mars, the Moon, or a natural satellite of Jupiter or Saturn. Its interactive maps, screens acting as windows to the outside, and the simulation of instruments in the base will offer the possibility of simulating work in different space environments, mainly for educational purposes.
Space simulation habitats are places for learning and technological development. They exist all over the world, run by universities, foundations, linked to space agencies, or as private ventures. In South America, there are only two: Cydonia in Bogotá (Colombia) and Habitat Marte in Natal (Brazil). Will the Galileo Base be the first habitat in Argentina? We will find out in 2026.
Creative Wellness Practices ~ Together with our friends at Seattle Children's Hospital
We've had the opportunity to work with some very talented and caring people at the different children's hospitals around the world. One of those people is board-certified music therapist Tanesha Ross at the Seattle Children's Hospital. Tanesha has worked with the children at the hospital several times in support of Space for Art projects, and when we were in Seattle last year she hosted us at the hospital for a Postcards to Space art session with the children. We were also joined by Lucas Sonier from Blue Origin's Club for the Future, and local astronauts Soyeon Yi and Chris Sembroski.
In concert with the Space for Art Foundation, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and local Seattle retirement communities, Maria continues to advance her mission to support the growing field of Art and Wellness. As a co-creation with Tanesha, this work is taking shape through an intergenerational art and music project, bringing to life some wonderfully creative and engaging art and wellness activities for all ages, which will be put into action later this year.
The Space for Art Foundation has been working with MOZAIC since 2023, bringing creative, space-themed programming to the children they serve. In 2024, this partnership expanded in a meaningful way when we introduced a space-themed workshop as part of the INFINITY Art Spacesuit Project. Children from various countries participated, each bringing their own imagination and stories to life through beautiful artwork.
During this period, we learned that the center also offers sewing classes for women—an initiative designed to help them build valuable, income-generating skills. In conversation with the director, a new idea emerged: What if the mothers of these children could also participate in the project by sewing small art space suits using leftover artwork from our INFINITY spacesuit?
In 2024, we officially began working with the mothers, and the answer to this proposal was an enthusiastic yes.
The mothers joined the project with dedication and creativity, ultimately producing two beautiful child-sized spacesuits adorned with the children’s artwork. For the first time, mothers and their children became co-creators of the same artistic mission—a shared expression of hope, skill, and imagination. We are proud to share that since then these little spacesuits ~ ETERNITY and OPPORTUNITY ~ have since been exhibited in multiple places around the world in celebration of the talent, resilience, and unity of the families we serve.
We're happy that our creative work with MOZAIC will continue as they help us bring more small art spacesuits to life with artwork from children all over the world. The next one is already in work ~ paintings from children in Bontasua, Indonesia being quilted together in honor of the HOPE Reef Restoration project that is a big, beautiful part of their local community.
MOZAIC is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to empowering refugees, women, and children in the DC, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area. Since launching their programs in 2016, their mission has been to help newcomers build strong foundations within their communities so they can feel at home, develop their talents, and move toward self-sufficiency as they contribute to their new society. The foundation is deeply committed to creating meaningful opportunities that highlight the abilities, creativity, and wealth of knowledge within these communities.
We're very proud of the incredibly positive and impactful work that our friends at UNITY Movement Foundation continue to creatively launch and bring to life for their community. Over the nine years of their programming, UNITY collected artwork from more than 4,000 children battling cancer in 15 different countries including the US (children from Space for Art), Russia, Bolivia, Zambia, Serbia, Belgium, Armenia, Switzerland, France, England, Germany, Brazil, Pakistan, and Iran. Their drawings — filled with hope, dreams, and visions of the universe — were transformed into a massive collage applied directly onto the exterior of a Soyuz launch vehicle. On November 27, 2025, all were sent to space along with the Soyuz MS28 crew bound for the International Space Station.
UNITY President Alena Kuzmenko said:
“The Art Rocket Project is about the power of human dreams — and how they help us keep going. Children who face medical challenges every day sent their hopes into space, together and beyond borders. When the rocket carried their drawings into the sky, a part of their fear went with it. What came instead was belief — in life, in the future, and in the strength of human unity.”
Sergey Kud’-Sverchkov, commander of the Soyuz flight, shared on his social media:
“Our rocket has become a symbol of optimism, perseverance, and kindness. Over the past several years, the UNITY Foundation and I have visited dozens of pediatric and adult oncology centers in different countries. It is real, meaningful work: we created art with children and adults, supported them in their hospital rooms, and promised that we would try to connect their drawings with space. It sounds so unusual that many adults take it as a joke. But the number of drawings kept growing, and so did our determination to send them into space. And now, thanks to the efforts of the specialists at the Progress Rocket and Space Center and Roscosmos—true magicians—we have one of the most colorful rockets ever standing on the launch pad, covered with children’s artwork, each piece carrying a story of illness, life, faith, and hope. It is a tremendous joy and honor for me to take these drawings with me. As we promised to the young patients: their dreams are going to space!”
From concept to reality - we at the Space for Art Foundation have loved watching the Rocket of Dreams take flight!!! 🚀🎨🙌
Art in Action ~ Surprising Support
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