CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The universe is providing a full moon this weekend for the 55th anniversary of the first moon landing, and many other events are also honoring the special day. Neil Armstrong And Buzz Aldrin‘s giant leap.
Aldrin, 94, the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew, is presiding over a gala at the San Diego Air and Space Museum on Saturday night. He will be joined by astronaut Charlie Duke, who was the voice inside Mission Control during the July 20, 1969, moon landing.
Museum President Jim Kidrick couldn’t help but throw a party, saying, “It’s been 55 years since one of the most historic moments in not only American history, but world history.”
If you can’t make it to San Diego, Cape Canaveral or Houston, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the moon landing, including the new movie “Fly Me to the Moon,” a joyful throwback starring Scarlett Johansson.
You can explore all things Apollo 11 on the dedicated website of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.
Enjoy the full moon at least from Saturday night to Sunday morning.
Here is a summary of some of the accolades for Apollo 11:
‘The eagle has landed’
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is holding a moon festival at its tourist stop just a few miles from where Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins thundered away on a Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969. The Johnson Space Center in Houston, home to Mission Control, is also getting into the act. Four days after leaving Earth, Armstrong and Aldrin settled into the Sea of Tranquility in their lunar module, Eagle, at 4:17 p.m. Eastern Time with almost no fuel left. “Houston, Base Tranquility is here. The Eagle has landed,” Armstrong radioed from 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometers) away. “No moment has united the country more than when the Eagle landed, with the entire planet Earth watching from below,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an anniversary message Friday.
‘One small step’
When Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon, he declared, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong grew up in Wapakoneta, in northwestern Ohio, now home to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. The museum’s commemoration Saturday begins with a pair of “Run to the Moon” races, followed by model rocket launches and wind tunnel demonstrations. John GlennThe first American to orbit Earth came from New Concord, on the other side of the state, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) away. The John and Annie Glenn Museum will be open there on Saturday to fill your astronaut needs.
‘Magnificent desolation’
Aldrin followed Armstrong onto the moon and said, “The glorious desolation.” After spending just over two hours on the dusty surface, they returned to their lunar modules and launched to reconnect with Collins, the command module pilot who had been left in lunar orbit. The spacesuit Armstrong wore on the moon mission was restored in time for the 50th anniversary in 2019. It is on display, along with the return capsule, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The spacesuits worn by Aldrin and Collins on Apollo 11 are also part of the Smithsonian’s collection and are now in storage. Collins died in 2021, less than a year after the 50th anniversary; Armstrong died in 2012.
Water landing!
The capsule carrying Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins — named Columbia — touched down in the Pacific on July 24, 1969. They were recovered four months later by the USS Hornet, a Navy aircraft carrier that repeated the mission for Apollo 12. The Hornet is now part of a museum in Alameda, Calif., and a landing party is planned for Saturday on the ship. Some of the original rescue crew will be there. The Apollo 11 astronauts were immediately quarantined aboard the Hornet and spent weeks in a restricted area while they were transported to Houston along with 48 pounds (22 kilograms) of moon rocks and soil. Scientists were concerned that the astronauts might have brought back moon microbes. Most of the rocks are locked away in a restricted laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Apollo program sent 12 astronauts to the moon from 1969 to 1972.
Next: Apollo’s twin
NASA aims to send four astronauts around the moon next year. It’s part of a new lunar program named after Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology. The SLS rocket that will be used for that flight — short for Space Launch System — is set to arrive at Kennedy Space Center next week. It’s coming by barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. That core stage will receive a pair of strap-on boosters at Kennedy before launching with three U.S. astronauts and a Canadian as early as September 2025. None of them will land on the moon; that would happen with the next crewed mission before 2026.
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