I knew that creating an image to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first lunar landing and the achievement of the Apollo program would be difficult. I wanted to depict some of our most important accomplishments on the moon and, most of all, the spirit of the adventure as we experienced it. But how does one show in a single scene the dedication, the intensity, the sacrifice, the sense of duty, history and patriotism that engulfed all of us in our quest for the moon? I wasn’t sure if it could be done.

I made a number of preliminary sketches, but none seemed adequate. I talked with other artists, fellow astronauts, and interested friends. Then an artist friend sent me a rough but imaginative sketch. He didn’t know much about space suits, but he knew a lot about emotion and design. His idea served as the basis for this image. Thanks, Peter Landa.

Two months later, when my painting was almost complete, I made a list of 50 title possibilities, but none seemed quiet right. I was talking with Pete Conrad, my fellow Apollo 12 moonwalker and his wife. She said, “I like In the Beginning…” So did we. Thanks, Nancy Conrad.

I enjoyed creating "In the Beginning…" because it was created just like Apollo: it was not the handiwork of one person, but of many dedicated people working together to make an ages-old dream come true. That was decades ago, and a lot of wonderful memories, ago. Thanks, America. - AB

Each print has been hand-countersigned by astronauts from the Apollo lunar program:
Apollo 7 - Wally Shirra, Walter Cunningham
Apollo 8 - Frank Borman
Apollo 9 - Jim McDivitt, Rusty Schweikert
Apollo 10 - Tom Stafford
Apollo 11 - Michael Collins, Buzz Aldin
Apollo 12 - Charles Conrad Jr., Dick Gordon, Alan Bean
Apollo 13 - Jim Lovell, Fred W. Haise
Apollo 14 - Alan Shepard Jr., Stuart A Roosa, Edgar Mitchell
Apollo 15 - Dave Scott, Al Worden
Apollo 16 - Charlie Duke
Apollo 17 - Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt