On May 22, 1993, the Cosmic Dancer" sculpture created by Arthur Woods was launched to the Russian MIR space station on a Progress rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Freed from the force of gravity which causes any sculpture on Earth to rest or be positioned in a certain way, the Cosmic Dancer" sculpture was allowed to slowly spin and freely float in the weightless environment of the MIR space station. The cosmonaut crew evaluated the contribution and importance of having art in their environment and they made a photographic and a video documentation of this experiment. In June, TV images of the Cosmic Dancer sculpture were broadcast from the MIR space sation to the spaceflight control center. The original photo and vidéo documentation was delivered in September.

The Cosmic Dancer sculpture is one of the very few artworks to be specifically conceived for and officially realized in the space environment. As such, its conception and implementation encompasses many issues related to "art in space" such as the artistic, environmental, political and financial aspects as well as those issues related to communictaing to a potential global audience. Thus, its relevance is to the role that art and artists have in establishing human civilization in space by 1) adding a space dimension to terrestrial art and 2) adding a cultural dimension to space development. The paper outlines the background of the project, documents its development and realization in space with an emphasis on these issues.