EXPERIENCE
EARTHRISE
The vision, artistry, and community behind a
monument to those who helped humanity reach beyond Earth.
THE VISION
EarthRise was created to recognize the people whose stories helped shape America’s journey into space — and to ensure those stories are seen, remembered, and carried forward.
EarthRise grew from St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church’s long relationship with America’s space program and a desire to tell a more complete story of the people who made that journey possible.
Through the John and Joseph Talbot Fund, the Episcopal Diocese of Texas invited congregations to imagine projects that could advance racial reconciliation by bringing overlooked histories into public view. At St. Thomas, that invitation led to a different kind of question: What if we did something celebratory?
The answer became EarthRise — a public monument honoring Black Americans, women, people of color, and others whose talent, courage, leadership, and discovery helped humanity reach beyond Earth.
"What if we did something celebratory?"
— The Rev. Mike Stone
CREATING EARTHRISE
From an idea to a work of public art.
EARLY CONCEPT · JULY 2022
The earliest proposal already contained many of the ideas that would ultimately define EarthRise: an arching canopy, a central capsule-inspired seating element, and art glass evoking the view beyond Earth. But the design was still evolving. Early plans envisioned a smaller structure, solar-powered lighting, a paved “launchpad,” and labyrinth-inspired mosaics honoring contributors to the space program.
REFINING THE VISION
REVISED CONCEPT · SEPTEMBER 2022
By September 2022, the proposal had begun to take a more defined architectural form. The canopy grew from roughly 10 feet to 14 feet high and from 16 to 17 feet wide. The labyrinth mosaics were removed, while the base and lighting approach were reconsidered and structural engineering entered the process. The central capsule-inspired seating and glass canopy remained at the heart of the design.
IMAGINING THE CANOPY
INTERIOR GLASS ART LAYOUT · SEPTEMBER 2022
The canopy was conceived as more than shelter. Its interior would become a field of color and light, drawing on images of deep space captured by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. The artists envisioned the glass mosaic as a metaphor for the people behind the space program: individual pieces, distinct from one another, joined together to create something larger.
MAKING IT BUILDABLE
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING OPTION FOR ARC · SEPTEMBER 2022
Turning the concept into a permanent outdoor installation required the artists’ vision to meet the realities of engineering. The proposed arc was studied for its dimensions, pitch, structural supports, and exposure to wind. As the design developed, engineering considerations helped transform the sweeping canopy from an artistic idea into a structure that could be built.
FROM PLAN TO PLACE
Over the years that followed, drawings became steel, glass, color, and light. The evolving design moved through engineering, fabrication, permitting, and installation before taking its place on the grounds of St. Thomas, transforming an idea first sketched on paper into a permanent work of public art.
FABRICATION
THE FABRICATED STEEL STRUCTURE BEFORE THE ARTWORK WAS APPLIED
INSTALLATION
THE EARTHRISE CANOPY IS LIFTED INTO PLACE AT ST. THOMAS
ARTISTRY ON SITE
THE ART GLASS IS INSTALLED ON SITE, BRINGING COLOR AND STORY TO THE STEEL CANOPY
LOOK CLOSER
EarthRise was designed to reveal itself slowly.
From a distance, EarthRise is defined by its sweeping arc, brilliant glass, and capsule-like form. Move closer, and other stories begin to emerge: faces, words, images, and details embedded throughout the monument. Some are immediately visible. Others reward a second look.
THE FORM
EarthRise begins with a form that reaches upward. Its sweeping canopy creates a sheltered space around the capsule seating area below: a place intended not only for viewing, but for contemplation, meeting, conversation, and reflection. The monument invites visitors to enter the work physically, to spend time within it, and to encounter the stories embedded throughout.
THE STAR NURSERY
The interior of the canopy unfolds as an abstract star nursery: a field of color, light, faces, and imagery that surrounds visitors as they step beneath EarthRise. Inspired by humanity’s continuing journey beyond our planet, the glass brings together images of real and imagined contributors within a larger celestial landscape.
THE PEOPLE WITHIN THE STARS
Scattered throughout the glass are faces: some immediately recognizable, others waiting to be discovered. They represent real and imagined contributors to humanity’s journey beyond Earth, woven directly into the star nursery rather than separated from it.
These details are easy to miss from a distance. EarthRise rewards close attention, revealing new faces, fragments, and connections as visitors move beneath and around the monument.
THE CAPSULE
At the center of EarthRise is a capsule-inspired seating area: a place to gather, rest, and encounter another layer of the monument’s story. Around its surface, images and historical references place individual lives within the larger history of the U.S. space program. Encircling it are the words that helped shape the artists’ vision: “We can do more together.”
“WE CAN DO MORE TOGETHER.”
— St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church
A PLACE FOR REFLECTION
EarthRise was designed not only to be seen, but to be inhabited: a place for contemplation, conversation, inquiry, and encounter. Words and images are embedded throughout the work, asking visitors to consider both the achievements celebrated here and the histories that too often went unrecognized.
The artists describe EarthRise as a place that communicates both “inspiring as well as uncomfortable truths” about the U.S. space program. It does not attempt to tell the whole story. Instead, it invites us to look more closely at the people who helped make that story possible, and to consider whose stories still remain to be told.
DEDICATION & COMMUNITY
A monument becomes meaningful when a community gathers around it.
On August 16, 2026, hundreds gathered at St. Thomas to dedicate EarthRise and celebrate the people whose stories it preserves. Parishioners and neighbors joined civic and church leaders, members of the space community, and honored guests as the monument became not simply a completed work of art, but a public place of remembrance, recognition, and possibility.
The dedication was both ceremonial and communal. EarthRise was blessed, photographed, explored, and immediately inhabited as a gathering place, exactly the kind of shared space its artists had imagined.
Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr. returned to St. Thomas for the dedication of a monument in which his own story now has a permanent place. A former parishioner, Marine aviator, astronaut, and NASA Administrator, Bolden embodies the connection between this congregation, the space program, and the larger story EarthRise seeks to tell.
A VOICE FROM THE DEDICATION
Houston Public Media captured the dedication of EarthRise and the voices of those who gathered to celebrate its unveiling.
“I hope that every young person who sees this will be inspired.”
— Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr.
EarthRise was dedicated as a memorial to stories too often overlooked. Its greater purpose, however, reaches forward: toward the people who will encounter those stories next.
THE STORY CONTINUES
The story of exploration is still being written.
EarthRise preserves stories from the past, but it was created with the future in mind. The monument invites each new visitor to discover the people represented within it, to ask who else helped make exploration possible, and to recognize that our understanding of this history will continue to grow.
The same is true of EarthRise itself. New stories, biographies, resources, and perspectives can continue to expand this digital collection — carrying the work of recognition beyond the monument and into the years ahead.
“We hope our collaboration will educate, foster inquiry and inspire the community to move forward with actionable intention.”
— Liz Conces-Spencer, Jose Dennis, and Gene Hester
EarthRise
Honoring the pioneers whose lives, leadership, and discoveries continue to inspire future generations.
PRESENTED BY
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church
Nassau Bay, Texas