A science blog with Eric Berger

Rex Walheim answers the question: How hard is it to draw a butterfly in space?


In the final days before the very last space shuttle flight NASA’s public affairs office was overloaded with requests for time on-orbit with the astronauts, from interviews to signings to this and that.

So the public affairs people almost didn’t approach Mission Specialist Rex Walheim with a last-minute request from the Houston Holocaust Museum to participate in its Butterfly Project. The museum is trying to collect 1.5 million drawn, crafted and otherwise created butterflies to commemorate the 1.5 million children who died during the holocaust.

It wanted a butterfly drawn in space for the project, as well as to remember the life of Ilan Ramon, who died during the Columbia accident in 2003.

But they did, and Walheim agreed immediately. “This is a really neat project,” he told me, upon returning from space.

On Tuesday night Walheim presented to the museum the butterfly he drew in his spaceflight notebook on flight day 12, when the shuttle undocked from the space station.

Museum Chair Tali Blumrosen, left, with Walheim and event co-chairs Erica Levit and Patti Kagan and Walheim’s hand-drawn butterfly. (Dave Rossman)

Walheim said he’s not an artist, and was a little nervous about drawing the bug in space. He said he had to ask NASA lead graphic designer Sean Collins beforehand for instructions on how to draw the butterfly. Walheim said he initially tried to draw the butterfly with a pen, but that didn’t work in space so he had to switch to pencil on paper.

Here’s a closer look at the drawing:

(Dave Rossman)

The museum has now collected more than 800,000 butterflies, and hopes to have completed its collection of 1.5 million by 2013, when it will put them on display in a special exhibit.

Eric Berger

15 Responses

  1. gjh says:

    Given the artistic ability of the average adult, I’d say that’s a fine looking butterfly. Mr. Walheim should be proud. (And being an astronaut probably brings him some pride as well.)

  2. Jim says:

    Excuse me, I thought I was on a Science blog.

  3. Madcougar says:

    Nothing about poo on your phone or how hot it is… good job Eric.

  4. Bobby says:

    Why did his pen not write? Did NASA fail to purchase a $20 Fisher Space Pen or have I been misled by its advertising? For added benefit, perhaps an analysis of various ink viscosities and their flow rates in adverse conditions would satisfy Jim’s science cravings.

    • StanleyS says:

      Do pens need gravity in order to write?

    • JohnD says:

      Pens need something to push the ink out of the cartridge. On Earth, that something is usually gravity. The microgravity of space means that a substitute must be found. Some pens use pressurized ink cartridges. Others (including those used on the Apollo missions) use capillary pressure.

  5. Ann says:

    That’s a better butterfly than I’d draw, I think. I still draw them like I was in elementary school.

  6. butter fly-fisherman says:

    Obviously an extraterrestrial bf; no legs and two over-sized antennae. i’d be interested in seeing a butterfly fly in space.

  7. JohnD says:

    I for one welcome our lepidopteran overlords.

    • Brian L says:

      That’s funnier than when Ken Jennings quoted it, because this time it’s relevant to space! Thanks for making my day, JohnD.

  8. Lisa says:

    That’s so cool!

  9. Stephen says:

    I can’t believe he tried it with a pen, first. Maybe he did it on purpose to make a story for the pencil rendition. Anyway, it’s a nice butterfly and a humane cause. 1.5 million dead of any sort is crushing. The deaths of 1.5 million CHILDREN fill me with horror and rage. THIS is why you never meet an Adolph these days.

  10. Sean Collins says:

    I think Rex did an excellent job on the butterfly and it was for a good cause. I am very proud to have a small part in it.