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When the Kennedy Center last fall commissioned Morris to make an evening-length centerpiece for its vast “Earth to Space: Arts Breaking the Sky” festival, nothing more was intended than to honor JFK’s initiative that led, in 1969, to Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin being the first Earthlings to walk on the moon.

In it he defended the enormity of the Apollo 11 mission’s expense by noting, “There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet,” and warned that “its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.”

The floating, sticky dust, technically known as lunar regolith, also made it tough to see during landing or during surface activities; for example, the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 repeatedly tripped over an external TV cable obscured in powder.

There have been exceptions: The Apollo 11 mission got recognition on the Walk of Fame in 1973, “with a uniquely designed special award in the category of Television as a tribute to the first televised Walk on the Moon,” according to the Walk of Fame website.

However, Martinez emphasized, Apollo 11’s recognition is in the form of round plaques at all four corners of Hollywood and Vine, listing the names of the astronauts involved in the first moon landing.