Bertram Ulrich
Headquarters, Washington, DC                  October 9, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1713)

NOTE TO EDITORS:  N98-65

NASA CELEBRATES ITS 40th ANNIVERSARY THROUGH ART

     On Oct. 15, NASA will celebrate its 40th Anniversary at a 
reception to be held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, 
where the Agency will launch the newly published book, NASA and 
the Exploration of Space.

  The book is a collaboration between NASA chief historian Roger 
Launius; curator of the NASA Art Program Bertram Ulrich; and the 
publishing house of Stewart, Tabori & Chang.  Senator John Glenn -
- a member of the STS-95 Space Shuttle crew, scheduled to launch 
in late October -- wrote the foreword to this book, which 
illustrates NASA's history through art commissioned and/or 
collected over three decades.

     The NASA Art Program, established in 1963, currently 
commissions four or five artists annually for a modest honorarium.  
The total collection, by about 250 artists, is comprised of over 
3,000 works that are housed at NASA and the Smithsonian's National 
Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.  Artists represented in 
the collection include Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell, Andy 
Warhol, Vija Celmins and the Starn Brothers.

     NASA lends its works for exhibits around the country.  A 
selection of paintings by women artists commissioned by NASA can 
be viewed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts until Nov. 
8.

    The reception begins at 6 p.m. EDT at the Museum, located at 
1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.  Limited seating for 
bonafide media representatives is available on a first-come first-
served basis.  To RSVP for this event, contact Joanna Adamus in 
NASA's Public Services Division at 202/358-1716.

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