Judd Nelson, sculptor, 1984, bronze

On the Gerald R. Ford Museum Plaza, 303 Pearl Street NW.

“Creating the first heroic image of a man in the state of nongravity,”
was the artist’s intent in replicating a virtually weightless
astronaut. Even though the sculpture looks light and as if
the astronaut were floating, the actual weight of the piece is
over 600 pounds! Nelson used texture and color to make the all
metal sculpture look like rough cloth, glass, leather and plastic.