CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Space will be observing a full moon this weekend to mark the 55th anniversary of mankind’s first moon landing and a slew of events to honor Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s giant leap.
Aldrin, 94, the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew, will be the head guest at a celebration Saturday night at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, along with astronaut Charlie Duke, who was the voice in mission control during the July 20, 1969, moon landing.
Museum director Jim Kidrick couldn’t resist throwing a party to mark “55 years since one of the most historic moments not just in American history but in world history.”
Can’t make it to San Diego, Cape Canaveral or Houston? There are plenty of other ways to celebrate the moon landing, including through new movies. “Fly Me to the Moon,” A light-hearted retrospective starring Scarlett Johansson.
Exclusive access to all things Apollo 11 Website From the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.
If nothing else, enjoy the full moon from Saturday night through Sunday morning.
Here’s a summary of the Apollo 11 tribute:
‘The Eagle Has Soared’
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is hosting a Moon Festival in a tourist area just a few miles from where the Saturn V rocket roared off carrying Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins on July 16, 1969. The Johnson Space Center in Houston, home of the Mission Control Center, is also joining in the festivities. Four days after leaving Earth, Armstrong and Aldrin climbed aboard the lunar module Eagle to Settled in the sea of silence Eagle landed at 4:17 p.m. Eastern time with very little fuel remaining. “Houston, Tranquility Base. Eagle has landed,” Armstrong radioed from 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometers) away. “Never has the nation been more united than when Eagle touched down with the entire planet watching from below,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a commemorative message Friday.
“One Small Step”
“it is One small step “This is one giant step for man, one giant step for mankind,” Armstrong declared when he became the first man to walk on the moon. Armstrong grew up in Wapakoneta, in northwest Ohio, where the Armstrong Air and Space Museum is now located. The museum’s Saturday celebrations will begin with two “runs to the moon” races, followed by a model rocket launch and a wind-tunnel demonstration. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, was from New Concord, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) away, on the other side of the state. For those interested in astronauts, the John and Annie Glenn Museum is open Saturday.
“Magnificent devastation”
Aldrin followed Armstrong onto the Moon’s surface, exclaiming, “It’s glorious desolation!” They walked across the dusty surface for more than two hours before returning to the Lunar Module and launching off to rendezvous with Command Module Pilot Collins, who remained in lunar orbit. The spacesuit Armstrong wore for the moon landing was 50th Anniversary It was unveiled in 2019. It is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., along with the re-entry capsule. The Apollo 11 spacesuits of Aldrin and Collins are also part of the Smithsonian’s collection and are currently in storage. Collins died in 2021.Less than a year after its 50th anniversary, Armstrong died in 2012..
Landing!
The capsule carrying Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins, named Columbia, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. It was retrieved four months later by the USS Hornet, the Navy aircraft carrier that also flew the Apollo 12 mission. The Hornet is now on display at a museum in Alameda, California, and a splashdown party is planned on board Saturday, with some of the recovery crew expected to attend. The Apollo 11 astronauts were immediately quarantined aboard the Hornet, and were barred from the space station for several weeks, along with 48 pounds (22 kilograms) of lunar rock and soil, before being transported to Houston. Scientists were concerned that the astronauts might have brought back lunar bacteria. Most of the rock remains trapped Inside a closed laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Apollo program landed 12 astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972.
Next up is Apollo’s twins
NASA Four astronauts will orbit the moon next year — is part of a new lunar mission named Artemis, after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will fly it is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space Center next week. The rocket will arrive by barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. That core stage will be fitted with two strap-on boosters at Kennedy and launch as early as September 2025. Three American astronauts and one Canadian astronautNone of them will land on the Moon, which will happen on the next mission with a different crew sometime after 2026.
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