If that title was unexpectedly romantic then it was perfect.

NASA, it transpires, has for the past 50 years enlisted not just calculating concept artists in its ranks, but also artists employed to document the human experience that is attached to NASA’s
monumental missions.

John Walker of the National Gallery of Art quickly agreed to help, arguing that artists could “probe for the inner meaning and emotional impact of events which may change the destiny of our race.”

The results of this stunning collaboration between scientists and artists are collected in NASA/ART: 50 Years of Exploration, by James Dean and Bertram Ulrich, published by Abrams Books.

David Stone titled this painting “A Handful of Emeralds” after hearing astronaut John Young describe the stars as “a handful of emeralds thrown across the sky.” He tried to express the magnificent, revolutionary solitude experienced by an astronaut adrift in a manned maneuvering unit, staring out at the void of space.

Discover magazine has a selection of images from the book, with descriptions.