17-Day Space Celebration at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
A 17-day celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 15 moon landing will take place from July 22 through Aug. 7 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
Apollo 15 completed the fourth successful moon landing mission with an all-U.S. Air Force crew, and its Command Module is on display in the museum’s Space Gallery courtesy of a loan from the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Other spacecraft on display in the Space Gallery include Mercury and Gemini, as well as the Space Shuttle Crew Compartment Trainer.
In July 1971, Col. David Scott, Lt. Col. James Irwin, and Maj. Alfred Worden flew the command module named Endeavour – after the ship that carried Capt. James Cook on his famous 18th-century scientific voyage – to the moon.
Apollo 15 focused mainly on lunar science and was the first mission to use a lunar rover vehicle. The crew spent four days traveling to the moon before Scott and Irwin landed the lunar module Falcon on the moon’s surface. They spent 67 hours exploring and setting up scientific experiments. Worden remained in orbit aboard Endeavour conducting experiments and photographing the moon. Just over 12 days after launch, the crew returned safely, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
The Space Celebration offers something for the whole family to enjoy and includes guest speakers, space-themed exhibits and simulator rides, a build-and-launch rocket activity, and a solar system 5k fun run.
Highlights of the event include:
- Interactive Space Exhibit: Space: A Journey to Our Future (Throughout event)
- The Beauty of Space Art Exhibit (Throughout event)
- Special Presentation on Living and Working in Space by NMUSAF Historian Dr. Doug Lantry (July 23)
- Displays of rarely seen space artifacts (July 24, 31)
- Special Presentation on the Titan IVB by Col. (Ret.) Elena Oberg (July 24, 25, Aug 7)
- Appearances by fictional space characters (July 24, 31, Aug 7)
- Space activities led by the Boonshoft Museum (July 24, 31, Aug 7)
- Special Presentation on Space Suits by NMUSAF Historian Dr. Doug Lantry (Aug 1)
- A Lunar Rover Vehicle on display from the Armstrong Air & Space Museum (Aug 2)
- Solar System 5K Fun Run (Aug 5)
- Rocket Day – Build and launch rockets (Aug 7)
For more detailed information about events at the Space Celebration, please visit the museum website https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Upcoming/Space-Celebration/
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, is the world’s largest military aviation museum. With free admission and parking, the museum features more than 350 aerospace vehicles and missiles and thousands of artifacts amid more than 19 acres of indoor exhibit space. Each year thousands of visitors from around the world come to the museum.