Original subtitles

Space missions to the moon,

50 years later, these incredible adventures

still appeal to the imagination.

Pioneers who traveled to the moon are celebrated

like fearless heroes who risked their lives

to add to the honor and glory of humanity.

No, May.

Everyone who was involved in some way

with these space adventures I could count

with esteem, respect and fame.

But a man was not so lucky,

the artist, Paul Van Hoeydonck.

- I expected to be more famous than Picasso.

On the contrary, people hated me.

Why the hell this talented artist

from the Belgian city, Wijnegem, was he so hated?

The answer is on the moon.

It is this small sculpture with the name "Fallen Astronaut".

It was taken to the moon in 1971 by the Apollo 15 team.

This little work of art has been converted

on a humiliating issues that led to NASA

and the group of astronauts to an embarrassing situation.

- "If this thing becomes a big thing

"with the 'Fallen Astronaut'

"someone is going to find out about Bulova watches,

"they will find out about the covers,

"they will discover all this,

"you know, i'm going to have a big problem."

- Everyone has a lot of buried stuff.

And this is what happened.

It was a very negative moment.

- We were a scandal in America, why?

- And we were all punished and sent away

and surprisingly, the only guy from the three of us

who were not fired

and was asked to leave Houston, it was Dave Scott.

- Paul was being harassed by the US government, which,

basically turned against him

for doing something that was not approved by NASA

and he then left the country.

- My lawyer said:

"Paul, make your lunch, go back to Belgium.

I said, "Why didn't I do that?"

He said, "You know, pay attention,

"when you enter the United States in a prison,

"you have to get out of this."

Paul Van Hoeydonck's small sculpture

it is the only work of art outside our planet.

It's a fascinating story it's a

of the most intriguing stories of the Apollo missions.

The Fallen Astronaut

A sculpture that died on the way to the moon

All his life, Paul Van Hoeydonck makes art

related to space and space travel.

His art is called space art, a symbiosis of art and science.

- Paul's work,

in my mind, it's a synthesis of humans and machines.

And this is very spatial, I mean, it's a synergistic concept

that we will probably have to get used to more

and more in the future, where man and machine will work together

to accomplish something.

And I think Paul is perhaps one of the first

this is taken to that point.

I'm not a great art person, I don't know art that well,

but I know that when I see something I like

and these I like, because, instantly, in my mind,

speak of space.

- All your art has always been about space.

So it was very appropriate

that he should be the person to go to the moon, right?

Paul created the little sculpture,

"Fallen Astronaut" in the summer of 1971.

Until recently, Paul declined

to talk about his work of art on the moon.

"Fallen Astronaut" ruined his career,

yes, even his life.

Now he is ready to tell his story.

Together with Paul, we will try to find the true story

behind this little man on the moon.

- Well, this is the first job I did in white on white,

with an astronaut or something.

1961

I show how I showed the image of the moon.

- When you're reading all these letters,

when you see all these pictures,

you're living a story, a dream story.

Not just the goal, this sculpture on the moon,

but how everyone can make their dreams come true.

Paul Van Hoeydonck's artwork always aimed

look as far ahead as possible.

Exploring the possibilities of the future is a

of your most important missions.

Discoveries in space in the 1950s

they are a huge stimulant for your artistic ambitions.

At the 1958 Brussels World Exhibition,

the Russians were doing an exhibition

of a replica of Sputnik.

This small satellite marks the beginning of the space race

between the United States and the Soviet Union.

It inspires Paul to take new directions in his work.

Paul is considered to belong to the Zero Group.

It's the name, taken from the countdown to a rocket launch,

it should indicate a new period in art.

In 1961, the Russians placed the first man

in an orbit around the Earth.

Paul's imagination travels

along with this first leap into space.

It creates trips out of the planet to give

expression for new destinations.

Following the advice of the New York lawyer

and art collector, Harry Torczyner,

Paul traveled to America in 1962.

At that time, New York was considered

as the new center for modern art.

Paul is at Dick Waddell's art gallery.

The connections between your space art

and incidents in space,

repeatedly draw attention to their work.

- Well, one day I made such a big painting

as a normal form of man, an astronaut in space,

losing your glove.

A few months later, one of them lost his glove

while taking his first walk.

You explain that. (mysterious music)

Paul uses trash and found objects

to create your futuristic work.

That�s why he�s designated

as the archaeologist of the future.

Van Hoeydonck's space art is also known outside of New York

and there are exhibitions

in Chicago, Houston and Washington.

- I had a great exposure in Washington

in a very big museum with my works on the moon.

And there were some people from NASA

and they said, "You are one of us.

"You have to come to NASA."

So I went to NASA for the first time.

As a special guest at NASA,

Van Hoeydonck pays a visit to Cape Kennedy.

Paul feels that he landed

in the most romantic place on earth.

The mission sequence begins.

Six, five, four.

The launch of Apollo 6,

that he is invited to testify,

it is an important test for the mission on the moon.

When Paul returns to New York,

the premiere of a science fiction film on Broadway

attracts your attention.

It is by Stanley Kubrick, "Space Adventure 2001".

- I was walking on one of the avenues

and there was a great movie.

The first sound

of that

nice picture--

Paul is especially impressed

by a mysterious black rock found by astronauts

in a lunar crater.

- It was a monumental stone, not only that,

and made a great impression on me.

I said, "My God, this is not a sculpture,

"is speaking another language."

The Kubrick movie play

makes Paul dream of placing a work of art in space.

He recalls that dream in a book

with an overview of his space art

and he prophetically places himself and his art on the moon.

Waddell Gallery manager Louise Deutschman,

is intrigued by Paul's obsession with space travel.

In an exhibition

she proposes her lunar project to Dick Waddell.

- "Why don't we put a sculpture of Paul on the moon?"

I heard, I entered

and said, "You are crazy, you are crazy."

Louise Deutschman pays no attention

to Paul�s comments and she contacts NASA.

Meanwhile, in Houston, the final preparations are being made

for the first moon landing, the Apollo 11 mission.

NASA resolutely rejects its proposal

and so on July 20, 1969,

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin place the US flag

on the moon,

but not a work of art.

Louise Deutschman thinks of an alternative plan.

During the prelude to the second moon landing,

she sends Paul to Cocoa Beach.

Paul has to try to make contact with the astronauts.

- Cocoa Beach is a very open city.

Many things happening, parasites,

many people that we would now consider groupies,

were close by.

Paul stays in Cocoa Beach for several weeks,

but making contact with the astronauts ends

being an impossible task for Paul.

When Apollo 12 is released,

your dream of a work of art on the moon

it seems farther than ever.

However, in New York City,

Louise Deutschman will not give up.

She addresses all her contacts in the art world

for advice on your lunar project.

A year later, she finally finds a man who can help her,

someone who worked for NASA

and now runs a printing company on Bank Street.

- When I met George,

he had a small room in his apartment

that was top to bottom with the photographs

of anything to do with the mission when he worked for NASA.

George Goodstadt cooperated

in the design of the crew badges for Apollo 13 and 14.

That's how he meets someone with strong connections

with many astronauts,

is a former professional player from Connecticut.

Now a public relations officer at Lacoste,

he is always looking for good deals.

- And all these ideas started to come to him

things on the moon, golf balls, golf clubs,

hit a golf ball on the moon,

a famous shot, of course, hitting a golf ball on the moon.

Direct as a given, one more.

Miles and miles and miles.

- So hitting golf balls became a big deal on the moon, wow!

So he kind of tied it all up

and it worked very well.

- Danny Lawler was a representative

from the Izod sportswear line,

In fact, I think he probably represented a lot of companies.

- And the company, Lacoste, loved it,

they loved this free advertising.

"These famous people are wearing our clothes

"because of Danny Lawler."

- And he was the one

joined NASA and the Waddell Gallery.

Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin

also wears Danny's Lacoste shirts.

Jim will travel to the moon in a few months.

During a golf lesson, Danny asks Jim

if he can take a small sculpture with him on his PPK.

- A PPK is a personal preference kit,

and contained all the particular things

to take on the flight.

You are limited to how much you can carry,

you can only carry 2.2 kg of material,

so, most of the time flags were carried,

we carry pins and small things for people.

- We have a heavy situation, which he always told me,

you just can't stack a lot of things there.

And at that time

I believe that astronauts were not allowed

to profit from that kind of thing.

They couldn't turn around and say,

"Hi, I ate this chocolate bar and took it to the moon"

you can't do that, so it was a no.

So you had to be very, very careful

about what you brought, in terms of weight,

and you couldn't do that to make a profit.

Jim Irwin is prepared

take a work of art to the moon for Danny,

as long as it's not too big and heavy.

Dick Waddell suggests that Paul create something

along the lines of a small multiple that he did before

for its exhibition in Chicago.

- After my dealer said, "Let's try

"bring something to the moon", I went back to Belgium

and because I was (speaking in a foreign language).

And I said to my son, "What are we going to do?"

And we have (speaking in a foreign language),

a kind of thing that children are playing.

And so it happened

that Patrick, 11, created the first design

for a sculpture on the moon, together with his father.

- The Paul Van Hoeydonck project started, for me,

when I was approached by Paul or his dealer,

Dick Waddell, to collaborate in the creation of a sculpture.

I had no idea what to do and it was very difficult

and it was more of a model.

It was really just the beginning of him expressing an idea

this would have to be refined and completed.

We did what we did with many creative artists,

when I said, "How big is it?"

And Paul said, "That big."

And he just used his hands

to show me the size he imagined.

And once I knew the height of the piece,

so I was able to do all the other dimensions,

working from height.

- And we needed a few months, you know,

before we agreed that this would be the sculpture.

- After collaborating for a while,

we create a design

of the final image we made

and I personally sculpt this out of aluminum.

- We designed it on an acrylic tube

to explain to people that the man was going to the stars.

Six weeks before the launch of Apollo 15,

Danny Lawler organizes a friendly meeting

between Paul and the team at Cocoa Beach.

- I went to Cabo and had a meeting with them

a restaurant

- Yes, we had a meeting with Paul.

In fact, Paul was very pleasant

and we made some individual statues for each of us.

Through the book "Space Art",

astronauts know Paul's work

that shows the glory of exploring space,

but also its dark sides, like the space accident.

- That's when I felt something I had to learn,

that life in space is as dangerous as living on Earth.

That dying is something that is the future of every planet,

every man, every animal, every flower

and that we have to accept that.

Astronauts are impressed by their works

and Paul, in turn, explains to them

how he admires their world.

- Because I said to them, "In my eyes,

"you are the knights of the Renaissance."

And you say, "See what this man says."

I said, "Yes, I think so, you are noble."

I said, "My God", and then one of us said:

"I think it's relevant,

"let's put this sculpture on the moon."

This promise leads

To a summit meeting in New York.

Goodstadt, Lawler, Waddell

and Van Hoeydonck prepare a program for the moon project.

Five identical sculptures must travel to the moon.

One of them will be left on the moon,

one is for Paul and Dick,

and the other three

are for the astronauts themselves to maintain,

but they also need to make a sixth sculpture.

Upon your return, it will be processed

in a series of 1,000 replicas, which will be sold.

The six sculptures need to be completed as quickly as possible,

but right after the meeting,

a dramatic incident occurs in Russia.

- A few months before Apollo 15 went to the moon,

there has been an accident.

The Dobrovolski cosmonauts, Volkov

and Patsayev are found dead in their capsule

in return for the longest space mission ever.

The cause of death is a mystery.

NASA is concerned that Scott, Irwin

and Worden will also be endangered

in the long mission they are about to undertake.

The Apollo 15 mission is suspended.

Paul is back

for his wife and children in Belgium.

Inspired by the photos of the Cosmonauts' funeral,

he starts a work of art to commemorate the crew of Soyuz 11.

It will become one of your most impressive works of art.

- I don't know, but I did something about the same time

because

I had to do it. "

And then suddenly, - Silence!

the Russians have disclosed the cause of the mysterious deaths

of cosmonauts.

- We are competitive,

but we are also protective of each other.

And I think what happened is that they informed us

what was the problem

and that led us to change some of our procedures.

When the time came to open a hatch

or maybe it's a possibility

that we could be exposed to a vacuum,

we wear pressure clothes

and we hadn't done that before.

If we had followed the old path and had a problem,

the same thing would have happened.

It happened to them,

they were very accommodating, did not wear their clothes

and they had a pressure leak and it killed them.

The Apollo 15 mission is underway,

so that the project of a work of art on the moon can continue.

Dick Waddell takes the six sculptures of the moon

for Danny Lawler in Cocoa Beach.

Now Danny Lawler has to put them

in the hands of Jim Irwin,

but then another problem arises

this could compromise the entire design.

In the USA, a discussion started on the agreements

that Danny Lawler closed with Alan Shepard.

- on Apollo 14,

Al Shepard had carried some things on that flight

and then he hit the golf ball on the moon

and my understanding is that the company

that made those golf balls have thousands

of boxes of these balls ready to ship,

with inscriptions "First golf ball hit on the moon".

Al Shepard denied any relationship

with the golf ball company, but that was a bad thing

and I think there were people at NASA

who wanted to do something about it

to prove that they were still in control.

NASA will keep bitter lookout

in possibly commercial activities

with things that are taken to the moon.

Paul is afraid that the inspection

of the astronaut's PPKs will be more stringent.

- When Flight 15 took off,

we were very interested to know what could happen

and we didn't see it happen because it was a secret

and we knew it was a secret.

- So there I was, sitting in the living room,

watching television, watching live,

the launch of Apollo 15,

without knowing it at that moment, you're really on board, aren't you?

- [Advertiser] 12, 11, 10, nine, eight,

ignition sequence started, engines running.

Five four three two one. (engines roar)

All engines running.

Takeoff, we have takeoff,

at 9:34 am, Eastern Daylight Time.

Precisely on time, 9:34 am,

Apollo 15 rose from the block on the way to the moon.

Together with your family,

Paul follows the journey to the moon on TV.

Paul receives news from Dick Waddell

It is perfectly in order.

Danny Lawler said that all six sculptures of the moon

are on board the control module.

At night, Paul and his little son, Patrick,

look at the moon where the astronauts are about to arrive

with your little sculpture.

All they can do is wait and dream every now and then.

And then, finally, the Apollo 15 team set foot on the moon.

Ok, Houston, how I stood out here

in the wonders of the unknown in Hadley,

I kind of realize that there is a fundamental truth in our nature,

man must explore.

Paul is glued to the television.

He watches all activity on the moon with Argus' eyes.

Irwin and Scott will be on the moon for three days.

They are the first astronauts

driving the lunar roving vehicle

through the mountains on the moon

and perform all kinds of experiments.

But on the first day, nothing should be seen

to put a sculpture on the moon.

When there are no broadcasts, Paul tries to remain calm.

He tries not to think too much

about what he expects to be happening 400,000 kilometers away

from his home in Wijnegem.

In the second day.

Irwin and Scott drive more than 10 kilometers on the moon.

In a crater, they find a rock that will later be known

like Genesis Rock, a four billion-year-old stone.

I think we found what we came for.

Crystalline rock, huh?

Yes, sir, you better believe it.

After a seven-hour lunar tour,

they return to the lunar module.

There is still no sign of Paul's statue.

During the third and final lunar tour,

for Paul, the tension is almost unbearable.

One of the astronauts falls.

They do an experiment with a hammer and a quill.

And I will drop the two here

and I hope they hit the ground at the same time.

What about?

Live on television,

they print stamps on the moon.

I am very proud to have the opportunity here

to play postman.

What would be the best place to cancel a stamp

than here at Hadley Rille.

After three walks on the moon,

Irwin and Scott return to the lunar module

and their activities on the moon have come to an end.

There is no sign of sculpture on the moon.

The lunar module aims to bring together

with Alfred Worden's command module.

The television camera that sits on the moon

takes a final panoramic photo of the Apollo 15 landing site.

The recording ends in the lunar vehicle.

In the background, a small mysterious object is shining

on the edge of a small crater of the moon.

It�s not clear what exactly it is,

but it doesn't look like Paul's moon sculpture.

Paul is in a state of suspense.

What could have gone wrong?

He misunderstood your meeting

with the astronauts in Cocoa Beach?

There is also no news from the USA.

When a week later, Apollo 15 returns,

there's one last breathtaking moment

fuel discharge.

- I loved nylon

and suddenly I could see big holes in the parachute.

But when we were going down to the water,

I saw a second trough

that was starting to have holes.

If the holes in the second parachute

would have gotten bigger,

they would not have survived the landing.

The top chute of the parachute.

Apollo 15, this is Recovery, exchange.

Now they arrived on Earth unscathed.

At the first press conference,

astronauts tell about the mysterious object

that they left behind on the moon.

- There were several disasters in the space program.

We lost several astronauts,

the Russians had lost some people, some cosmonauts in space

and when we fly,

we realized that there were 14 of them

who died in the search for space

and we thought it would be appropriate for us

to leave some kind of memorial.

It's not Genesis Rock, but this monument

that gets all the attention of the American press

and the Paul statue is part of that monument.

- I think the idea of ??using the piece

as a memorial to the Russians

and Americans is wonderful.

It may have been, as far as I can remember,

the only thing that was set up with the two countries

because it was such a difficult time

between Russia and the USA

Danny Lawler calls Paul immediately

to tell the news.

He explains to Paul that there are now two of his sculptures

on the moon, Paul's space traveler in plexiglass

and a prototype that they placed near the memorial.

Paul writes letters of thanks to the three astronauts

and with great expectation,

he is looking forward to their arrival in Belgium.

- "Are you coming to the space conference in Brussels?

"We hope to see you there!"

- We came to Brussels after the flight.

We met the king, we got a medal,

it was a very, very pleasant meeting.

We had a series of NASA management with us,

we had our flight surgeon with us.

During lunch, Paul is informed

that his acrylic statue was not placed on the moon.

It wasn't even taken on the flight.

- I was at home, at our home, on the Upper East Side,

and I got a call from my husband who said:

"Quick, get in my drawer, my first drawer in my dressing room

"and take the sculpture that is on the right side

"from the top drawer and quickly take it to the gallery."

It's all right.

So I took the sculpture, went down the stairs,

because we live close,

and took a taxi to the gallery.

I was at 76th and the gallery at 57th.

and I walked and said, "Here, what's going on?"

He said, "Well, unfortunately, the sculpture that we had

"to take to the moon is very heavy,

"wrapped in plastic, it's very heavy,

"so they want one that is just a model in itself."

- [Narrator] Now it's out

that NASA officially approved the project.

Commander Dave Scott put a prototype on the moon,

not as a work of art, but as part of the memorial.

- I was sad, very sad

because I know I did a lot

cruel works

and I suffer from it when I do it.

I couldn't feel happy about it.

I wanted to give man a future, happiness for the future.

Paul lights up when the astronauts tell him

that the film about his mission premiered

in the palace of the Belgian king.

Apollo

The film ends with a statement by Commander Dave Scott

on the moon sculpture.

About 20 feet north of Rover 1,

in a small subtle crater,

there is a simple plate with 14 names.

And those are the names, in alphabetical order,

of all astronauts and cosmonauts

who died in search of space exploration.

Next to it, a small figure representing the Fallen Astronaut.

- And they said, "Well, we showed the moon movie

"to the king and he was very interested"

he saw the sculpture lying on the moon.

"Oh," I said, "what did he say when you told him that?"

"No," they said, "we were not allowed to say that."

- That would have been so appropriate at that time

to say, "One of your countrymen is responsible

"for this memorial."

Astronauts tell Paul

must remain secret

that he is the creator of the sculpture

until the Apollo program ends.

- And I was surprised, actually,

see that the artist was never recognized

until much later.

I thought this was really weird.

- I'll never know why.

- I asked.

and Al said, "Paul, I didn't know."

- I guess I never really thought

that the official position on this was very good

because I thought whoever did this

must get recognition for doing so.

This is even stranger

because the name of the designer

of the Apollo 15 emblem has been made public.

- Yes, that's a good argument, because this is another artist

who helped us do something for our flight

and that would be Emilio Pucci.

But we tell everyone from the first day

that Emilio Pucci was the guy who did this for us.

- I saw Paul after the piece was placed on the moon

because we were still discussing the possibility

of the various editions

and he was still in New York at the time.

Paul wonders how to proceed.

The message for the future that Paul intended to spread

with his work of art on the moon evaporated

and is now represented as a death memorial.

And as long as they can't reveal

that Paul created the sculpture,

they cannot place the replicas on the market.

But then, Paul receives a letter from Dave Scott,

saying that the Smithsonian Institution

wants a replica of the monument.

The request comes from Michael Collins

who is now the director of the Air and Space Museum.

Paul immediately makes the commitment.

This is your chance to make it public

that he is the creator of the sculpture.

Paul informs Scott that he intends to deliver the replica

to the Smithsonian personally.

Dave Scott now realizes

that Paul will come out of anonymity

and he adamantly tries to avoid it.

Meanwhile, Bruce Gitlin, is working on a series

of 950 sculptures for sale.

- And we were making the tools

and the molds to move forward with that

when NASA somehow heard this and called me

and demanded that I stop immediately

and cease and give up any other work, they called,

"On the moon the man's project."

So I stopped and gave up as fast as I could.

It was a kind of really threatening and scary call.

Shortly after that,

we were called by the Smithsonian Institute

who asked us if they could have a replica

of "Fallen Astronaut"

At that point, I said to them, "Absolutely not."

They said,

"Why not, we are the museum of the people of America?

"We should have one of those."

And I replied that: "If you got permission from NASA

"to allow me to do it, then I will produce one for you."

But now,

Dick Waddell decides to bring the press.

He contacts Walter Cronkite.

Waddell offers him the opportunity to introduce Paul

like the artist who created the first work of art on the moon.

- Paul Van Hoeydonck then went to Florida

to be interviewed by Walter Cronkite

and it was when he went, it was very exciting.

You know, Walter Cronkite, the main honoree.

Once again, Dave Scott is strongly opposed.

Scott doesn't want any advertising focused on sculpture,

as for him, it is part of the memorial.

Scott did everything he could.

He wrote letters, called, which I wouldn't do,

that interview.

I said, "My God, I'm tired and sick of it."

People started to think that I am a liar.

third time

Paul participates in the launch of an Apollo mission.

After Apollo 6 and 12,

he witnesses the launch of Apollo 16.

Immediately afterwards, he is interviewed.

Walter Cronkite presents Paul Van Hoeydonck

as the artist of the first work of art on the moon.

The day after the interview,

Paul delivers his sculpture to Michael Collins.

New York photographer Bob Otter

takes promotional photos of Paul

and his first art on the moon.

- And this is clearly taken from that deck

because you could literally feel

you can play at the Empire State Building,

that you can see in this photo.

And it�s Paul holding the figurine and it�s a classic photo.

Canadian filmmaker Dennis Miller,

was hired to make a film about Paul and his space art.

And the Waddell Gallery opens a great exhibition

dedicate to Paul Van Hoeydonck's space art career.

The highlight is his sculpture on the moon.

But the New York art world is envious.

- I could imagine that easily, yes, of course.

A European brings something on the moon through the Americans,

Yes, they would be jealous.

I mean, they were jealous when the artists came to stay here.

- I mean, and then, it's a big world out there.

It's perfect that it's someone

from another country, you know?

I mean, Belgian, what do you know,

the moon does not belong to America.

- But I'm sure there was jealousy, of course.

It's like, "Why not me?"

As the Waddell Gallery prepares

for selling the replicas,

a scandal breaks out over the smuggling of postal covers

by the Apollo 15 crew.

- And he presented this idea to us

that we carry 100 postal covers

for a German stamp dealer in Stuttgart

and Dave was in favor of that.

In fact, he was the one who introduced us

and took us to dinner that night,

but I thought NASA approved us

taking them on the flight.

Well, what we found, of course,

was that they were never in the manifest

and Dave Scott not only had

the 100 covers made,

but he had 300 more manufactured and he carried them in his pocket

and never put them in the manifest.

So that was the kind of genesis of the whole problem

with the covers.

A few days after the scandal was released,

the ads appear offering the replicas

of sculpture as "First art on the moon".

- And suddenly they were attacking Dick Waddell,

my dealer and me because they said,

"They wanted to make money from that sculpture on the moon."

Although Paul never intended his sculpture

be part of the memorial,

now he is accused of serious assault.

- Paul was being harassed by the US government, which,

basically turned against him

for doing something that was not approved by NASA

and he then left the country.

- My lawyer said:

"Paul, make your lunch, go back to Belgium."

I said, "Why didn't I do that?"

He said, "You know, pay attention,

"when you enter the state in a prison,

"you have to get out of this.

"So you walk away and I say when you can come back."

Harry Torczyner, the lawyer

who ten years earlier had advised Paul to come to the USA,

now send him out of the country, back to Belgium.

Due to the case of postal cover,

astronauts are summoned

appear before a Special Senate Committee.

The committee also wants to know more

about the "Fallen Astronaut"

and unexpectedly, Paul receives visitors in Belgium.

- They were part of the detectives

in service

from NASA,

although I think they were in the service of the FBI,

but they came especially to interview me.

We were a scandal in America, why?

- It was a very negative moment,

so I didn't want to have a negative ending

to such a glorious achievement.

- One of the local newspapers

on Long Island, it was on the front page,

but I was showing the photo

and I believe I was also talking

about astronauts being expelled from the space program.

- And we were all punished and sent away and surprisingly,

the only guy from the three of us who didn't get fired

and said to leave Houston was Dave Scott

and I never understood that.

He was the guy who created all these things,

did it all on his own, just let Jim and me know later,

and yet he was the one who stayed in Houston.

So I never understood that.

The Senate investigation show

that NASA had discovered several irregularities

during the Apollo 15 mission.

Maybe that's why Dave Scott wanted the creator

of the "Fallen Astronaut" to remain unknown.

Dave had a lot of problems hanging over his head.

One was the postal cover,

that he didn't even tell Jim and me what was going on there,

two Bulova watches that he carried

that were never listed in the manifest,

the "Fallen Astronaut"

and I could see Dave looking at this

and saying, "Oh, you know,

"if it becomes a big thing,

"with" Fallen Astronaut,

"someone will find out about Bulova watches,

"they will discover the covers,

"will discover all this,

"you know, i'm going to have a big problem."

Paul Van Hoeydonck decides

to stop selling his first art on the moon.

To complete his adventure, he travels to Italy

and plays a replica of his sculpture

in the Vesuvius crater.

And that finally ends the moon project.

Paul is 90 years old now,

but he still works on his space art every day.

As always, trash and found objects form the basis

for their work on the future.

His second wife, Marleen, fully supports him.

She managed to help Paul to look back in a positive way

in this unlikely adventure of his sculpture on the moon.

When the Smithsonian Institution, in 2013,

invited Paul to a special event about his lunar sculpture,

he was pleasantly surprised.

- And now, I see that he is very happy, he is a happy man.

And the best revenge is to be happy.

- Finally, they accepted him as a creator,

as the artist who made the "Fallen Astronaut"

and that they were proud of it.

- I think it was, in a way,

as the crowning of a part of his career.

Because as he and I discussed

when I spent some time with him, alone, he and me,

that he believes, and I agree,

now he is at the forefront of Belgian artists

and it took a long time

and a lot of hard work to get there.

AND

I think he was proud and happy

and we are proud and happy for him.

- Being invited by the Smithsonian,

which is a great honor in America,

almost

an acceptance.

This was the beginning of a period

where Paul should return fully to the art world

who fired him so brutally 50 years earlier.

- Mr. Paul, Mr. Paul, okay, you're alive.

For you, very well. - Look at you, man. (laughs)

But even more important for Paul

was his renewed contact with Al Worden,

the pilot of the Apollo 15 command module.

- Here in Antwerp, we have a 90 year old

who is an artist, who is world famous,

who had exhibitions at the Guggenheim,

a few months ago, and also in Berlin and Amsterdam,

who has been speaking in Washington DC at the Smithsonian

and above all, ladies and gentlemen,

who is the only person in human history

who has already made a work of art that is on the moon.

Sign here

The artist and the astronaut

immediately restored their friendship

and together they can look back on an immense achievement

in the worlds of art and space travel.

- A great monkey in New York and I did all those things.

Oh, that's when you did that.

Done, the great New York monkey.

- The big monkey in New York, isn't it?

But... Think about it.

- Does not look like you.

- No, I don't think so, I look more like a gangster.

So, give him my specifications.

- Pull ---- It's really heavy.

There is an.

I told him that once, I did.

Yes, I know, she gave me hell, my wife, she did.

"Now you want to build it too.

"He gave it to us and how dare you."

I said, "Yes, but you told me."

- To be, at the time,

The only

in outer space, as far as we know, it was an absolute emotion.

It's historic

and

is part of playing a role

in humans leaving the planet.

I don't know, I...

you know, it's just part of my life.

It has been part of my life for so many years.

I think it's great that there's something

this is so iconic on the moon.

This is not so general to represent humanity.

I mean, that's what I like is that it's generic.

Half a century ago,

Paul Van Hoeydonck had a dream

and that dream came true.

- The universe is round.

It doesn't start, it doesn't end,

there is no beginning, there is no end.

Apollo 15 commander David Scott declined to be interviewed for this documentary.