Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Artemis Moon Flight and Voices of Apollo 11
Now that our Moon is once again at the centre of global attention—driven by the Artemis mission’s journey around it—I feel compelled to share this artwork again.
I was deeply moved when Michael Collins—the Apollo 11 and Gemini 10 astronaut, author, explorer, and artist—tweeted these kind words about my work on 19 April 2021:
https://twitter.com/AstroMCollins/status/1384194949009211393
The news of his passing just nine days later made the moment all the more profound—a deeply emotional experience for me. Out of the blue, I felt an overwhelming urge to create this artwork, and I simply had to begin working on it immediately, in the middle of the night.
The Voices of Apollo 11
are now part of the Moon forever
are now part of the Moon forever
Click for the larger version, 4000 x 4000 pixels.
I downloaded NASA’s original, complete transcript of the Apollo 11 onboard voice communications. The idea was to transform this text into an image of the Moon. After several weeks of intense work at a feverish pace, my tribute was complete. The Moon is now composed entirely of the letters from the Apollo 11 voice transcripts.
This work is also a tribute to the entire Apollo 11 crew: Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.
Michael Collins was often affectionately referred to as “the loneliest man in history”, as he remained alone in the command module, orbiting the far side of the Moon without radio contact, while his crewmates, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, became the first humans to set foot on its surface. Michael was also an artist. His iconic photographs taken from lunar orbit are true works of art and form part of humanity’s greatest cultural heritage.
Being an astronomical photographer and visual artist can be a profoundly solitary pursuit. This was especially true during the creation of this piece, as I found myself deeply affected throughout the process. Although I never met him personally, the end of his earthly mission resonated with me far more deeply than I had expected. Creating this photo-based artwork became a way to process the inner storm of thoughts and emotions it stirred.
The Apollo 11 landing site is indicated by two red letters.
4K VIDEO
A one-minute 4K video showcasing the Voices of Apollo 11 artwork. Best experienced in full screen.
“Fly Me to the Moon”
Fly Me to the Moon, recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1964, became closely associated with NASA’s Apollo space programme. A copy of the song was played on a Sony TC-50 portable cassette recorder during the Apollo 10 mission, which orbited the Moon, and again on Apollo 11 prior to the first lunar landing.
Material used for the artwork
Apollo 11 onboard voice transcription
Click to download the PDF-document, 5.5 MB
My photo of the Full Moon
Click for a larger image.
Click for a larger image.
I used my twenty five-year-old photo of the Full Moon to create this text based artwork.
@FORBES
"The Ultimate Tribute To The Fallen Heroes Who Took Us To Moon"
"Metsavainio has created a ‘voices of Apollo 11’ artistic masterpiece to immortalize the mission and its target forever."
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