The historian Ron Miller dates space-related art - art based on scientific fact rather than mysticism - to the illustrations of Emile Bayard and A de Neuvill of Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon in the mid-19th century.

Modern space art began with architect-turned-artist Chesley Bonestell, whose 1949 illustrated book, The Conquest of Space, inspired the scientists and technologists that designed the first space flights.

The first art exhibition in space took place on the MIR Space Station in 1995, when the work of 21 space artists was exhibited. It was preceded by the first sculpture in space, Arthur Woods's Cosmic Dancer, which floated into the MIR Space station in May 1993.

According to artist Richard Clar, space art took a giant step forward when artists began using the unique properties of space to create art that could not be produced on earth. The first artist to accomplish that was Joseph McShane, who in 1984 used the vacuum of space to demonstrate a new level of uniformity in colour distribution.

Art to communicate with intelligent life is an idea pioneered by scientist Carl Sagan, who designed artistic "messages" that were inscribed on plaques attached to many of the early unmanned space probes.

Anna Hill's Symbiotic Sphere aims to take space art one step further by connecting people on earth to the experience of space.