The artist Jeff Koons is set to make history this week as he prepares to send 125 sculptures to the moon on a rocket developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. The ambitious project, titled Jeff Koons: Moon Phases Project, was initially announced in 2022 and is now scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 15th February.

The sculptures, which are part of the lunar lander known as Nova C (Odysseus), will be launched to the moon atop a Falcon 9 rocket designed by Musk’s SpaceX. Each of the 125 one-inch miniature Moon sculptures represents a phase of the Moon and is associated with significant figures from various fields and time periods, including Mozart, Galileo, Cleopatra, and Leonardo da Vinci.

Jeff Koons expressed his excitement on social media, stating, “Just a couple hours away from the launch at 1AM EST Feb 14 of my artworks Moon Phases on Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission. The images capture the Nova-C lunar lander being encapsulated on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. I am honored to have the first authorized artwork on the Moon.”

Forbes reports that technical issues prompted SpaceX to postpone the takeoff, which is now rescheduled for 1:05 am Eastern Standard Time on the 15th.

The moon landing initiative has been developed by Chantelle Baier, the chief executive of 4SPACE company, who collaborated with Koons on creating the 125 unique sculptures, each consisting of three components—a one-inch diameter sculpture that will be installed on the Moon in perpetuity, a large