The Story Behind Voyage to Mars
I was born in 1970, the year after man first walked on the Moon.
By the time I was old enough to understand the world around me, space was everywhere. It was talked about in my home, on television, and eventually in school. Space, stars, planets, and everything in between became part of the world I grew up in.
Decades later, I had the opportunity to witness a SpaceX Starship launch in South Texas.
It was a bucket-list moment.
I watched Starship lift from the ground and climb higher and higher into the sky.
But as I watched it rise, I realized I wasn't really seeing the rocket.
I was seeing the people who made it rise.
That became the story behind Voyage to Mars.
Throughout the sculpture are gears of different sizes. They represent the countless people and departments whose combined efforts make a launch possible.
The engineers.
The welders.
The technicians.
The secretaries.
The custodians.
And all the people whose names most of us will never know.
No single gear makes the machine work. Each one has a different size, a different purpose, and a different responsibility. But when they work together, something extraordinary happens.
The rocket rises.
Voyage to Mars is my tribute to that collective human effort.
We look into the sky and see a rocket.
I look at this sculpture and see the people who put it there.
“Every great voyage begins with a spark of wonder, written in the language of fire and iron.”
~ Enrique Del Angel
Artwork Details
Artist: Enrique Del Angel
Title: Voyage to Mars
Year: 2025
Medium: Reclaimed automotive and industrial metal sculpture
Materials: Reclaimed automotive components, mechanical gears, structural cylinders, and formed steel
Finish: Clearcoat
Dimensions: 37" H × 12" W × 12" D
One-of-a-Kind Original Sculpture
