This massive mural, painted by McCall for the Johnson Space Center in Houston, commemorates the heroism and courage of the men and women who have pioneered the high frontier. It depicts the first two decades of American space exploration, from the first manned space flight of astronaut Alan Shepard aboard Mercury I, on May 5, 1961, to the Gemini and Apollo programs and the space shuttle missions of the 1970s and 1980s. The mural also looks ahead to the turn of the century, when permanent manned space stations will be created in orbit around the Earth.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on an alien world, the Earth's moon. It was the culmination of the largest scientific and technological undertaking in human history. Below the sunlit globe of the rising Earth, the lunar orbiter piloted by astronaut Michael Collins streaks like a comet across the sky, pointing the way toward the next steps in our voyage of discovery.

The mission to the moon placed humankind on the pathway to the stars. This study for Cosmic View, a six-story mural that occupies a wall of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C., portrays the vastness of space as a place of wonder, harmony, and joy.

The first stage in pioneering, whether in an undiscovered valley or in the depths of space, is the establishment of a settlement on the edge of the frontier. America's first major effort at continued habitation of space was Skylab, which provided a home for three teams of three astronauts, for a total of nearly six months in space. This view of Skylab shows the bright golden "solar parasol," which the first astronaut team improvised to shelter the space station from the fierce rays of the sun following damage to insulation during the launch.

During a thaw in the Cold War, Earth's two greatest political powers worked together to explore the heavens, as a U.S. Apollo orbiter and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft joined in high orbit over the Earth on June 17, 1975. The sun gleaming behind the two craft signals the promise of such cooperation for all humanity.

Ten years after the Apollo-Soyuz mission, Robert McCall joined in another historic venture as he collaborated with Andrey Sokolov, one of the Soviet Union's most accomplished space artists, in creating this breathtaking panorama, which celebrates the achievements of the first three decades of U.S. and Soviet space efforts and the promise of the next generation of space exploration.

This luminous vision of two astronauts soaring together through space illustrates McCall's belief that the full exploration of the cosmos will require the efforts of all the Earth's peoples, working together in harmony and peace. Peace on Earth/Peace in Space arose from McCall's experience in collaborating with Andrey Sokolov.

After half a decade of dormancy, America returned to space with the debut of the space shuttle program. Robert McCall was on hand not only for the first successful launch of the space shuttle Columbia, on April 12, 1981, but for its triumphal return two days later. This painting depicts the predawn launch of Columbia from Kennedy Space Center, in a burst of thunder and dazzling fire.

McCall was present on the morning of April 14,1981, when Columbia made a picture perfect landing in the Mohave desert. "What struck me," he says of the experience, "was the contrast between the sound and fury of Columbia's launch and the utter calm and quiet of its landing."

This painting commemorates the loss of the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. The seven stars honor the seven astronauts who perished in the explosion: Commander Francis Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, and Ronald McNair, and payload specialists Gregory Jawis and Christa McAuliffe.

Fifteen American astronauts have lost their lives in the first three decades of space exploration. The inset nebula expresses the aspirations of all those courageous explorers who risk their lives to discover new worlds. "Inevitably, there are tragedies and setbacks in any worthwhile venture," says Robert McCall. "That's the history of the human race. But I continue to be optimistic about the future of humankind."

The space shuttle program resumed in September 1988, two and a half years after the Challenger disaster. Since its beginning, NASA's space shuttle fleet has carried out over forty scientific, technical, and defense-related missions, including the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope by the shuttle Discovery in April 1990. This massive orbiting stellar observatory offers astronomers wide new vistas by allowing them to view the heavens without the interference of the Earth's atmosphere.

McCall gives us a glimpse into the history of space flight in this mural for the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. In addition to the space shuttle riding piggyback on a 747 in the upper left background, the mural depicts several experimental aircraft that led to great strides in aviation and ultimately space flight. Among them: Chuck Yeager's X-I, Glamorous Glennis (center), in which Captain Yeager broke the sound barrier for the first time on October 14, 1947, and the rocket-propelled X-15 which raised the speed record from Mach 3 to Mach 6 and reached altitudes exceeding 100 kilometers (62 miles). The most promising experimental craft now being developed by NASA is the aerospace plane, which is designed to take off from a conventional airfield and soar through the atmosphere into orbit. These craft will be the workhorses of the next phase of space exploration.

This painting created for Disney's EPCOT Center in Florida reminds us that the brave pioneers who venture into space depend upon hundreds of scientists, technicians, and support staff. The astronauts pictured are John Young (foreground) and Robert Crippen, preparing for the historic first flight of the space shuttle Columbia.

Inspired by Edward White's walk in space on June 3, 1965, during the Gemini IV mission, this piece was McCall's effort to capture what White described to him as an exuberant EVA experience. "White described the feeling of being totally free," McCall says. "In fact, he was so thrilled with that freedom that it was difficult for Mission Control to talk him bock into the capsule." White was one of the three astronauts who later perished in the Apollo 1 launchpad fire.