Brower Propulsion Labs fictitious aerospace company launching real expedition

This story first appeared in Philadelphia City Paper and is reprinted here with permission. Read it online or pick up an issue at newstands until Wed., Feb. 10.
The first mission of Brower Propulsion Labs, a New York-based aerospace company, was to launch into orbit the ashes of a deceased astronaut who became a drunk after his mission to the moon was canceled. Except, the story is a ruse. The laboratory — manned by only one employee — did launch a rocket, but it was a performance meant to dramatically retire a space suit hand-sewn by artist Steven Brower, a painter, product prototyper and space geek.
“The fictional story is more believable than the research I had to do to make the suit in the first place,” he says.
Reality is subjective throughout Brower’s fictional corporation, conjured to explain his diverse creations to the art world. For instance, he says, a painting could come from the advertising department, an electronic gadget from engineering. It’s as serious as it is silly.

The lab’s next mission, on display at Esther Klein Art Gallery, is to launch three exploratory spacecraft near Yellowstone Park in September. The project satirizes 19th-century landscape painter Thomas Moran’s historic expedition there.
Brower will tell you that the artist’s paintings of fantastic cascades and mythical bubbling springs were used by railroad tycoons to lobby the government to institute the National Park Service, and hence, Northwestern tourism. He hopes his mission will weave together our remote-controlled exploration of outer space with Moran’s manipulated works.
The exhibition’s centerpiece, a lander spacecraft with working solar panels, measurement gauges and cameras, will collect data. A rover will explore, snapping photographs. Trivia posted throughout the exhibit, like mock memos, stock certificates and mission plans, gives life to Brower’s stories. One-liners glow from the lab’s paperwork, including a fitting description of its proprietor:
“All Brower Propulsion Laboratory products are hand-made by one idiot, proudly.”
Ends March 21, free, Esther Klein Art Gallery, 3600 Market St., 215-966-6188, breadboardphilly.org