The cosmos is marking the 55th anniversary of the first lunar landing with a full moon this weekend, alongside numerous events celebrating Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's historic achievement. At 94, Aldrin, the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew, will headline a gala at the San Diego Air and Space Museum on Saturday night. He will be joined by astronaut Charlie Duke, who provided the voice inside Mission Control during the July 20, 1969 moon landing.

Museum President Jim Kidrick couldn't resist organizing a celebration "55 years to the day of one of the most historic moments in not only American history but in the history of the world." If you can't make it to San Diego, Cape Canaveral, or Houston, there are other ways to celebrate the moon landing, such as the new film "Fly Me to the Moon," a light-hearted retrospective starring Scarlett Johansson. You can also explore everything Apollo 11 on a special website created by the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. If nothing else, enjoy the full moon from Saturday night into Sunday morning.Here’s a rundown of some Apollo 11 tributes:

Figure 1. Moon Fests, Film, and Full Moon Celebrate 55 Years of Apollo 11

The Eagle Has Touched Down

NASA's Kennedy Space Center is hosting a moon festival at its visitor center, just a few miles from the launch site where the Saturn V rocket roared off with Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins on July 16, 1969. Houston's Johnson Space Center, home to Mission Control, is also joining the celebrations. Four days after leaving Earth, Armstrong and Aldrin, aboard their lunar module, Eagle, landed on the Sea of Tranquility at 4:17 p.m. Eastern with just a small amount of fuel left. “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed,” Armstrong announced from 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometers) away. [1] “No moment united the country quite like when the Eagle landed, as all of planet Earth watched from below,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an anniversary message on Friday. Figure 1 shows Moon Fests, Film, and Full Moon Celebrate 55 Years of Apollo 11.

One Small Step for Man

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong proclaimed as he became the first person to step on the moon. Armstrong grew up in northwestern Ohio's Wapakoneta, now home to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. The museum's tribute Saturday begins with a pair of "Run to the Moon" races. followed by model rocket launches and wind tunnel demos. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, hailed from New Concord on the opposite side of the state, some 150 miles (240 kilometers) away. The John and Annie Glenn Museum will be open there Saturday for your astronaut fix.

Magnificent Emptiness

Aldrin joined Armstrong on the moon, describing the scene as "Magnificent desolation." They spent just over two hours exploring the dusty surface before returning to their lunar module and rejoining Collins, the command module pilot who had remained in lunar orbit. Armstrong's moon spacesuit, restored for the 50th anniversary in 2019, is on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, alongside their return capsule. Aldrin and Collins' spacesuits from Apollo 11 are also part of the Smithsonian collection but are currently in storage. Collins passed away in 2021, less than a year after the 50th anniversary, and Armstrong died in 2012.

Splashdown

The capsule carrying Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins—named Columbia—splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. They were recovered by the USS Hornet, a Navy aircraft carrier that performed a similar mission for Apollo 12 four months later. The Hornet is now part of a museum in Alameda, California, where a splashdown celebration is planned aboard the ship on Saturday, featuring some of the original recovery crew. The Apollo 11 astronauts were immediately placed in quarantine aboard the Hornet and, along with 48 pounds (22 kilograms) of moon rocks and soil, remained isolated for weeks during their transfer to Houston. Scientists were concerned about the potential for moon germs. Most of the moon rocks are still stored in a restricted lab at Houston's Johnson Space Center. The Apollo program landed 12 astronauts on the moon between 1969 and 1972.

Coming Up: Apollo's Twin

NASA plans to send four astronauts on a lunar flyby next year as part of its new moon program, Artemis, named after Apollo's twin sister in Greek mythology. The SLS rocket for this mission—short for Space Launch System—is set to arrive at Kennedy Space Center next week, transported by barge from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. [2] The core stage will receive its pair of strap-on boosters at Kennedy before launching, at the earliest, in September 2025, carrying three U.S. astronauts and one Canadian. This mission will not involve landing on the moon; a subsequent mission with a different crew, scheduled no earlier than 2026, will handle the lunar landing.

Reference:

1. https://dailyjournal.net/2024/07/19/moon-fests-moon-movie-and-even-a-full-moon-mark-55th-anniversary-of-apollo-11-landing/
2. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-moon-fests-movie-full-55th.html

Cite this article:

Janani R (2024), Moon Festivals, Moon Movies, and a Full Moon Celebrate the 55th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Landing, AnaTechMaz, pp. 67