Ever since the beginning of the space age, the idea of exploring
this final frontier has captured the imaginations of millions. Equally fascinating are the men and women responsible for these incredible technological breakthroughs.

Ellen seeks to honor these individuals in the portion of the mural dedicated to Space Studies. NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission (MER) was chosen as a focus for the projects. Over 3,000 men and women were involved in MER, and the Space Studies section of
the Mural is dedicated to all of them.

Like many of the other state projects, Ellen wanted to get people involved in the creation of the art. Meetings were arranged between high school kids and the various NASA employees, subcontractors,
and independent researchers who worked on MER.

The students were then asked to create metaphoric art portraits to
honor how those scientists and engineers contributed to the success
of the Rovers. The artwork was collected and included in the section
of the mural dedicated to "Space Studies". This page lists the various projects and describes the meetings between the kids and the MER participants, as well as the artwork they created for the mural.