Eagle in the Sky

On July 20, 1969, the American eagle went farther than any bird ever had. The Apollo 11 lunar module was named Eagle, and when it touched down on the Sea of Tranquility, Neil Armstrong radioed the line people still quote: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

The crew chose the bird on purpose. Michael Collins worked up the mission patch around a bald eagle coming in to land on the Moon, carrying an olive branch to say the crew came in peace. At first the branch was in its beak. NASA thought the bare talons looked too warlike, so the branch was moved into them, and the patch flew that way.

This picture treats the eagle the same way, as a sign rather than a bird, drawn in light against the night.

It stands against a black, star-flecked sky, built from thin glowing strokes like neon tubing or a long-exposure photograph. The head and crest glow ice blue over a gold beak, the body and talons are traced in gold, and the raised wing fans out from gold through blue into long red tail feathers. A few small stars glint around it. The ground is near black, so it is at its best on a dark wall, where the light seems to come off the canvas.