Urban artist's alien work appears on the International Space Station

Urban artist's alien work appears on the International Space Station
Mosaic art on the International Space Station during ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s Futura mission. Inspired by the archetype 1970s Space Invaders video game, French artist, known as Invader, established his urban alien artwork in 60 cities all over the world, including Rome, Paris, New York, Manchester, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. In 2012 he sent a mosaic into the stratosphere on a high-altitude balloon. Aiming even higher, Samantha helped Invader get his artwork out of this world when she installed a Space Invader mosaic in Europe’s Columbus laboratory on the Space Station, 400 km above Earth. Credit: ESA/NASA

Inspired by the 1970s Space Invaders video game, a small and colourful mosaic has been found on the International Space Station by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

The French artist known as Invader has established his urban alien artwork in more than 60 cities all over the world, including Rome, Paris, New York, Manchester, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. In 2012 he sent a mosaic into the stratosphere on a balloon.

Following the invasion of Earth orbit, these space invaders have been spotted not only in the Space Station but also in ESA establishments all over Europe. The first invaders were seen at ESA's astronaut centre in Cologne, Germany. More mosaics have been seen at ESA's Redu Centre in Belgium, where satellites are controlled and tested as part of ESA's ground station network.

Mission control believes Invader will organise more invasions and activate aliens at other ESA establishments throughout the year. Follow their progress on Twitter via #space2iss and #SpaceInvader.

Back in , Samantha is planning to join forces with these pixellated artforms to inspire primary school children in using their imaginations for combining geometry, colours and mathematics into abstract minimalism.

  • Urban artist's alien work appears on the International Space Station
    Inspired by the archetype 1970s video game “Space Invaders”, a small and colourful mosaic was placed on the hatch of ESA's space laboratory Columbus on the International Space Station by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Credit: ESA/NASA
  • Urban artist's alien work appears on the International Space Station
    Linking the International Space Station and ESA establishments in Europe mosaic artworks inspired by the archetype 1970s Space Invaders video game, have been found colonising ESA centres. Credit: ESA
  • Urban artist's alien work appears on the International Space Station
    Linking the International Space Station and ESA establishments in Europe mosaic artworks inspired by the archetype 1970s Space Invaders video game, have been found colonising ESA centres. Credit: ESA

Citation: Urban artist's alien work appears on the International Space Station (2015, March 13) retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2015-03-urban-artist-alien-international-space.html
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