Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum

We started our vacation by going to the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, OH. We were there last Monday, July 20th, the 40th Anniversary of the first moon landing. Admission was half price and they had some freebies like these great stickers.The line to wait wasn't too long--maybe 20 minutes. It was a bit crowded, but you were able to go at your own pace without too much trouble. We had visited here before, several years ago, but BigJ didn't remember it, so we thought it would be nice to go back on this special day.
Once in the door they have wall displays of the different Ohio astronauts- 24 in all, as well as a display of the history of flight. Hanging from the ceiling is this great replica of the moon and a moon landing module.

There are a lot of different displays about a variety things regarding space travel, such as Armstrong's space suits and flight logs, an actual Gemini spacecraft, and a plantetarium/theater where they show a film about Armstrong and the famous Apollo 11 moon landing.

There's also a small moon rock on display. Did you know the astronauts left their oxygen backpacks on the moon so they could use that storage space for the moon rocks they brought back?


LittleE is trying her hand at landing a shuttle in the flight simulator. I think she crashed.


There's much, much more to see than what I have here. BigJ decided to buy an Apollo 11 mission patch at the gift shop along with some astronaut figures. Did you know the Apollo 11 astronauts broke tradition by choosing NOT to have their 3 names put on the mission patch design? They did this to honor the approximately 400,000 people who made the first moon landing possible. It's a favorite OH field trip!!
Some books we read for the trip: Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh, and What Would You Ask Neil Armstrong by Anita Ganeri.

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