In his book Apollo: An Eyewitness Account, Alan Bean says of Reaching for the Stars, "In one sense this is a painting of a universal astronaut, symbolizing everyone who flew in Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz. It also represents those who fly on space shuttles and will fly on a space station and on future missions only dreamed about at this time. The astronaut is an emissary of us all, soaring away from ourplanet earth... But in a broader view [Reaching for the Stars symbolizes] all of us who posses a dedicated and adventurous spirit no matter what our interests or age."