A Secret Mission to Put Art on the Moon
get the runaround: to not get the help or answer you need because people keep sending you to someone else, making excuses, or avoiding your questions
In 1969, three astronauts flew to the moon with Apollo 12. What most people don’t know is that a very small piece of art may have gone with them.
The artwork is a tiny chip with drawings from six famous artists, including Andy Warhol. It’s the size of a fingernail. One of the artists, Forest Myers, said he wanted to “make a tiny little museum that would be on the moon.”
He asked engineers at Bell Labs to help make the chip. They used a special process to shrink the drawings.
NASA never said yes to the project, but they also didn’t say no. Myers said he got the runaround from them every time he asked for permission.
Eventually, an engineer agreed to secretly attach the chip to the lunar lander. Before the launch, Myers received a telegram letting him know the chip was on board and ready to go.
Sample sentences
When I called customer service, they sent me to five different people. I really got the runaround.
She asked her boss for vacation days, but he kept changing the subject. She felt like she was getting the runaround.
They got the runaround from the city office when they tried to get them to fix the dangerous potholes.
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