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Eric Sloane Week: Sunday In 1976 and at the age of 71, Eric Sloane climbed scaffolding reaching 24 metres (80 feet) in the hall of the soon-to-be-opened National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC. The museum had asked if he would like to do a mural for their entrance hall that was seven stories high and a block long. Sloane recalled that he invited ‘any Smithsonian representative’ to a Dutch Treat Club luncheon in New York so he might discuss it over drinks (and graciously refuse the job).They sent a young fellow named Mike Collins, who was introduced to the club members just as ‘a guest of Eric Sloane’s who works for the Air and Space Museum in Washington’. ‘Look here’, Sloane told him, ‘I’m an old fellow not used to heights. Even at your age, would you enjoy working on such a lofty scaffold?’ The man didn’t seem impressed. ‘I really wouldn’t mind,’ he replied, ‘and I don’t mind heights. I guess you didn’t realise that I’ve been to the Moon as an astronaut.’ ‘How we forget the truly great,’ Sloane blushed. He agreed to take on the job, out of embarrassment as much as anything, saying, ‘How could I refuse famed astronaut Michael Collins?’The enormous mural titled Earth Flight Environment was an epic achievement. It is in the Museum to this day and remains a testament to Sloane’s enduring love of the sky and clouds.This themed week was proposed and written by Wil Mauch (Member 60,370).