Space is providing a full moon for the 55th anniversary of the first moon landing this weekend, and many other events honoring Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s giant leap.
Aldrin, 94, the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew, emcees 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 in mission control for the July 20, 1969, moon landing.
Museum president Jim Kidrick couldn’t resist throwing in “55 years to the day of one of the most historic moments not only in American history, but in the history of the world.”
Can’t make it to San Diego, Cape Canaveral or Houston? There are plenty of other ways to celebrate the moon landing, including the new film Fly Me to the Moon, a light-hearted look back starring Scarlett Johansson.
And you can explore all things Apollo 11 on a special website of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
If nothing else, dive in the full moon Saturday night into Sunday morning.
Here’s a rundown of some Apollo 11 honors:
“The Eagle Has Landed”
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center hosted a moon celebration at its tour stop, just a few miles from where the Saturn V rocket lifted off with Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins on July 16, 1969. The Johnson Space Center in Houston, home to the control of mission, is also come into action. Four days after leaving Earth, Armstrong and Aldrin in their lunar module Eagle, settled on the Sea of Tranquility at 4:17 PM Eastern with almost no fuel left. “Houston, this is the calm base. Eagle landed,” Armstrong radioed from 240,000 miles (386,000 kilometers). “No moment has united the country like when the eagle landed as the entire planet Earth watched from below,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Friday in an anniversary announcement.
“One Small Step”
“It is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Armstrong proclaimed when he became the first man to set foot on the moon. Armstrong grew up in Wapakoneta in northwest Ohio, which now houses the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. The museum’s tribute Saturday begins with a pair of Run to the Moon races, followed by rocket launches and wind tunnel demonstrations, the first American to orbit the Earth hailed from New Concord across the state, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) away John and Annie Glenn will be open there on Saturday for your astronaut.
“Magnificent Wasteland”
Aldrin followed Armstrong out onto the moon, uttering “Splendid Desolation.” They spent a little over two hours treading the dusty surface before returning to their lunar module and taking off to contact Collins, the command module pilot who had remained in lunar orbit. Armstrong’s space suit for the moon picture was recovered in time for 50th anniversary in 2019. It is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., along with their return capsule. Aldrin and Collins’ Apollo 11 spacesuits are also part of the Smithsonian’s collection and are currently in storage. Collins died in 2021less than a year after the 50th anniversary; Armstrong died in 2012.
Splashdown!
The capsule holding Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins — named Columbia — fell into the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. They were retrieved by the USS Hornet, a Navy aircraft carrier that repeated the job for Apollo 12 four months later. The Hornet is now part of a museum in Alameda, California, with a party planned for Saturday aboard the ship. Some of the original recovery team will be there. The Apollo 11 astronauts immediately went into quarantine aboard the Hornet and, along with 48 pounds (22 kilograms) of moon rocks and soil, remained off limits for weeks until they were moved to Houston. Scientists feared that astronauts might have brought lunar microbes. Most of the rocks remain locked away in a restricted laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The Apollo program landed 12 astronauts on the moon from 1969 to 1972.
Next: twin of Apollo
NASA aims to send four astronauts around the moon next year – part of a new moon program named Artemis after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology. The SLS rocket for that flight — short for Space Launch System — should be at the Kennedy Space Center next week. Arrived by barge from NASA’s Michaud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. This main stage will receive a pair of strap-on boosters at Kennedy before lifting off in September 2025 at the earliest with three American astronauts and one Canadian. None of them will land on the moon; which will come on a next mission with another crew no earlier than 2026.
