Destination Moon: The National Air and Space Museum's New Look at Lunar Exploration

Details

Presenter: Michael Neufeld, Senior Curator of Space History

National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

Moderator: Dr. Rachel Riedner, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies

In mid-2022, as part of the complete renovation of the National Mall Building, NASM will open Destination Moon, its new exhibition on lunar exploration from ancient dreams to the missions happening today. At its center will be the story of the Cold War Moon race and Project Apollo. Among the key artifacts will be the Freedom 7 Mercury capsule in which Alan Shepard became the first American in space and the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, which carried Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon and back during the first human lunar landing. The latter spacecraft has returned from a national tour that was part of the Destination Moon project. A newly restored, giant mural of a lunar crater painted by famous space artist Chesley Bonestell in 1957 opens the exhibit, and it ends with another giant mural: a panorama of the lunar surface taken by the Apollo 17 astronauts. Hanging overhead are a test vehicle for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2009, and a model of the SLS/Orion vehicle that will launch the Artemis astronauts to the Moon in 2023/24. An update screen at the exit will carry news of the latest lunar missions. 

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