Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 7 42 70 Gallatin Valley Life And now, on the 45th anniversary of their legendary journey, local artist Dennis Harrington is creating a life-size bronze sculpture titled Brave Men and Brilliant Minds. The piece is designed to not only honor the three heroic men that traveled to the moon and back, but also to honor the thousands of talented NASA employees that helped get them there. In total, over 400,000 individuals were responsible for the success of Apollo 8. Harrington—well known for his grizzly bear bronze Guardian Spirit that has greeted passengers at the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport for the last two decades—is honored to be involved with something of this magnitude. To start the project, the first step was contacting Captain Jim Lovell. Portrayed by Tom Hanks in the classic film Apollo 13, Captain Lovell is perhaps most well-known as the commander of that historic flight. It was during that mission that he uttered the iconic phrase, "Houston, we have a problem." Lovell's accomplishments are staggering: he's a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional space medal of honor, a member of the first crew rendezvous, first to orbit (14 day record), and he's the first person to fly into space four separate times. Furthermore, he's one of only 24 people to fly to the moon, the first of three to fly to the moon twice, and only person to fly to the moon twice without making walking on the surface. "I managed to get a hold of Captain Lovell and presented the idea," Harrington says. "He loved it. He contacted Anders and Borman—because if they weren't all onboard, it wasn't going forward." Once Harrington had a conceptual drawing to show the three astronauts, everyone was excited about the project. Lovell in Harrington's Studio "We're happy Dennis wanted to do this project." - Captain Jim Lovell And now, as the 50th anniversary of their legendary journey ap- proaches, Bozeman artist Dennis Harrington is finishing a life-size bronze sculpture titled Brave Men and Brilliant Minds. The piece is designed to not only honor the three heroic men that traveled to the moon and back, but also to honor the thousands of tal- ented NASA employees that helped get them there. In total, over 400,000 individuals were responsible for the success of Apollo 8. Harrington—well known for his grizzly bronze, Guardian Spirit, which has greeted passengers at the Bozeman-Yellowstone Inter- national Airport for the last two decades—is honored to be involved with something of this historic magnitude. To start the project, the first step was contacting Captain Jim Lovell. Portrayed by Tom Hanks in the classic film Apollo 13, Captain Lovell is perhaps most well-known as the commander of that historic flight. Lovell's accom- plishments are staggering: he's a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, a member of the first manned mission to the moon, the first person to fly into space four separate times and one of only 24 people to fly to the moon. He spent more than 700 hours in space, a record until the Skylab missions. "I managed to get a hold of Captain Lovell and presented the idea," Harrington says. "He loved it. He contacted Anders and Borman—because if they weren't all on board, it wasn't going forward." Once Harrington had a con- ceptual drawing to show the three astronauts, everyone was excited about the project. Jim Lovell in Harrington's Studio " W e ' r e h a p p y D e n n i s wa n t e d t o d o t h i s p r o j e c t." - c a p ta i n j i m l ov e l l

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