Obviously there are gonna be memorials to Grace on Earth and on Erid after he dies there (assuming Eridians do memorials, which seems reasonable since they clearly mourn their dead and do figurative art), and obviously both planets are gonna want to memorialise their respective crews.
But what really gets me is the idea of them memorialising each other's dead.
There are sculptures of Yao and Ilyukhina on Erid, made with reference to pictures from the Hail Mary database. Their names are added at the end of the public memorials. They are given Eridian names (the second and third humans to ever be granted such an honour) so that they can be properly mentioned in the songs that are written about the mission.
Grace has his own memorials. Ilyukhina's bear, some medals from Yao's time in the PLAAF, an unopened letter addressed to “Martin” in Shapiro's handwriting. They've got their little shrine in a corner of his house, and he's extracted a promise from the science team that, whatever happens to the biodome after he dies, those items are going to be preserved.
Every statue, drawing or other representation of an Eridian on Earth looks like Rocky. After all, he's the only Eridian they've ever seen.
Most are actually meant to be him. With Grace, in commemoration of Dr Ryland Grace's First Contact with intelligent aliens. On his own, with body parts labelled, as an educational tool. And in his hamster ball, or next to smaller models of the Hail Mary and the Blip A, in thanks for his contribution to saving their planet.
But the humans try their best with what limited information they have. There are statues that show multiple Rockys working together, sometimes the full twenty-two. There are more abstract representations, including a very famous one with twenty-three Eridian claw prints next to three human handprints.
“And twenty-two brave Eridians” is a phrase that gets added to the end of memorials, speeches, prayers of remembrance.
When humans and Eridians finally make Second Contact, both are surprised to learn that Dr Ryland Grace isn't the only person that both sides have grieved over.
