Students often have original artwork chosen for a special exhibition or event, but Zoey Aguinaga, a Wilderness Oak Elementary School fifth grader, can say her artistic creation is bound for space.
Zoey was one of several students ages 3-18 nationwide whose space-oriented artwork was chosen a winner in the Art in the Stars art contest, organized by the Boeing Co. and the nonprofit Space Foundation.
As a result, Zoey's entry, along with those from other contest participants, will be digitized and placed aboard the Starliner CST-100, a partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to the International Space Station and other low-Earth-orbit destinations.
An unmanned Starliner first launched in 2019; the first manned Starliner launch is tentatively scheduled to take place in April 2023, Boeing said.
According to a news release, the art contest, themed “Breaking Boundaries in Space,” took place in fall 2022 and encouraged students nationwide to create artwork that reflects the concept of people across the globe rising above various challenges and barriers to work together in space exploration, advancing science and fostering a brighter future.
Zoey's mother, Patricia Marie Verde, said her daughter first got interested in the art contest through her art school teacher Samantha Ostos at the Olmos Park-based Coppini Academy of Fine Arts.
Verde said Zoey first got into art at a young age, adding that her daughter usually sketches, draws and paints two to six art pieces a day.
“Her teachers in day care actually noticed it when she was just a baby. So, we started to encourage it with additional art classes when she was just 2 years old,” Verde said.
Zoey said her contest entry, “Breaking the Space Ceiling,” depicts three pioneering women in space flight: Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Mae Jemison, the first Black woman in space; and Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman in space.
Zoey said she is honored and excited for her artwork to be chosen for placement aboard the scheduled Starliner flight.
“I wanted to represent women in space across different races. I wanted to show that any women could go into space,” she added.
Chris Ferguson, Boeing’s flight crew representative and a former NASA astronaut, said the Art in the Stars contest was designed to inspire today’s youngsters about the future of space exploration.
“Partnering with Space Foundation for Art in the Stars entries to fly on Starliner—a commercial spacecraft that will fly people to space and safely return them to Earth—is a perfect way to inspire the next generation of diverse explorers to see themselves in the stars and imagine how far they can take us in the future,” Ferguson said in a statement.
