SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — As NASA's Artemis II mission prepares for a splashdown here in San Diego after it finishes its journey around the moon, monument creator Steven Barber is already planning to preserve the historic event in stone.
"People just have no idea the impossibility of this to put four people in a Volkswagen and send them to the dark side of the moon," Barber said.
Barber has spent nine years turning space history into monuments you can see and touch, including tributes to the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 crews. Now, he is looking ahead to the Artemis II mission.
"There is 100% plans for an Artemis monument," Barber said. "This will be a very important monument because this has the first woman, the first Canadian, the first African American. It’s a very eclectic crew we’ve never had anything like this ever."
While looking to the future, Barber is also building the past. He is currently focused on raising funds to create a seven-foot-tall statue of local legend Sally Ride and bring it to the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The monument will honor her as the first American woman in space and a trailblazer in science.
"Sally, it’s where she should have been in the first place. She was from the valley here in Southern California, but her real home was La Jolla. It’s important for a little girl to see a girl; it’s just important. Monuments are really powerful," Barber said.
Barber said the great space pioneers who paved the way inspire his work, and he hopes his monuments will inspire generations to come.
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