Cocktails, Conservation and Community -- Preserving our Place in Space
The Patuxent River Naval Air Museum Foundation Board invites you to attend an invitation-only reception (cocktails and hors d'oeurves) for a select group of local civic and business leaders. We are bringing together this influential group to solicit support for the restoration of an important historical artifact that illustrates our community's sizable contribution to space exploration.
Local artist George F. McWilliams’ mural “Naval Aviation in Space” was unveiled at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Officer’s Club on April 26, 1986. The twelve by twenty-foot painting is dedicated to astronaut Michael Smith and is in need of conservation and preservation.
Renowned conservationist David Olin of Olin Conservation, Inc. will share behind-the-scenes details of the painstaking process of restoration through the lens of other significant projects that grace the walls of the US Capitol, Library of Congress, The White House and many of our nation's most prestigious institutions and edifices.
Patuxent River Naval Air Station has been tied to human spaceflight since the day the Mercury astronauts were announced, with four of the seven as graduates of the United States Naval Test Pilot School. Many Naval Aviators have followed in their footsteps. From Alan Shepard’s flight as the first American in space – to the Gemini missions including Gene Cernan’s spacewalk that developed the technology for Apollo astronauts John Young and Ken Mattingly, among others, to walk on the moon, to the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia piloted by Bob Crippen. Significant events like these are represented in artist George F. McWilliams’ mural “Naval Aviation in Space”. Unveiled at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Officer’s Club on April 26, 1986, the twelve by twenty-foot painting is dedicated to astronaut Michael Smith.
