Following numerous postponements, the shipment of Jeff Koons’s collection of 125 sculptures was successfully dispatched to the lunar surface from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early hours of today.

This endeavor, dubbed “The Moon Phases Project,” was unveiled in 2022 and revolves around a series of NFTs. Initially, the intention was to have the physical sculptures touch down on the moon in July of the same year, with corresponding NFTs being offered via Pace Verso, the digital token platform of Pace Gallery.

After a series of delays, the launch of Koons’s “Moons” sculptures was at last slated to take place aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inside a lunar lander.

The project statement reveals, “The lander will transport Koons’s collection of 125 miniature sculptures, each one inch in size, symbolizing different lunar phases. These sculptures are linked to influential individuals from diverse disciplines and eras who have significantly contributed to human civilization on Earth, including the likes of Mozart, Galileo, Cleopatra, and Leonardo da Vinci, among others. These ‘Moons’ will represent the first officially sanctioned art installations on the lunar surface.”

The Falcon 9 rocket, a creation of SpaceX, was founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002. The physical artworks were loaded onto the rocket within a lunar lander named Nova C (Odysseus). This lander, engineered by the private spaceflight company Intuitive Machines, is programmed to detach from the Falcon 9 after its launch.

On February 13, Koons took to the social media platform X (previously known as Twitter) to share news of the launch, including photographs of the lunar lander and his moon sculptures being integrated into the Falcon 9.

Should the mission proceed without a hitch, the lunar lander carrying Koons’s masterpieces, alongside NASA’s equipment, is expected to make its lunar arrival in a span of nine days.