Staff Reports
WEST LAFAYETTE — “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” The words echoed from millions of television sets in the late evening of July 20, 1969, as Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.
Purdue, known as the “Cradle of Astronauts,” will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with a series of events July 18-20, including a presentation by Gene Kranz, Apollo 11’s flight director, showings of a new Armstrong documentary, children’s activities and a variety of panels featuring space authors and others who knew Armstrong or worked on the Apollo 11 mission. There also will be a moment of remembrance at 4:17 p.m. to mark the exact time of the lunar landing.
Fifty years ago, Armstrong, along with command module pilot Buzz Aldrin, spent several hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting rocks and photographing the historic event. Armstrong’s historic moment is the theme for the 150th anniversary of Purdue as a university with Purdue’s Giant Leaps Sesquicentennial Campaign. The 150th celebration of Purdue will conclude with an astronaut reunion at Homecoming on Oct. 12.
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The festivities begin at 3 p.m. on July 18 with Apollo 11 flight director Gene Kranz presenting — live and live-streamed — “Go or No-Go: The Untold Story of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing.”
From 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on July 19 is an open house for the special exhibition “Apollo in the Archives: Selection from the Neil A. Armstrong Papers.” The exhibition can be accessed through Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Library in the Stewart Center, 128 Memorial Mall, and includes key Apollo 11 mission documents and artifacts from Armstrong’s personal papers. Exhibition scavenger hunts and viewing of Apollo 11 World Tour rare film clips are family-friendly. Popcorn and light refreshments will be provided.
The celebration continues July 20 with a 10 a.m. showing of “Armstrong,” a documentary at the Loeb Playhouse in the Stewart Center. This new 45-minute documentary film features home videos shot by Armstrong and unseen footage from NASA. The film also shows again at 7 p.m.
From noon to 1 p.m. in the lobby of Loeb Playhouse in the Stewart Center, a space author meet-and-greet features George Leopold, author of “Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom;” John Norberg, co-author of “Spacewalker;” and Susan Gunderson, co-author of “Becoming a Spacewalker.” Books will be available on site for purchase. From noon to 4 p.m. K — 12 STEM activities will be available for kids at Purdue Mall fountain near the Neil Armstrong statue outside Neil Armstrong Hall. Kids can become a lunar scientist and journey to the moon, look up close at lunar samples collected by Apollo astronauts, make their own impact craters on the surface of the moon and explore the Apollo 11 command module in augmented reality. Attendees can also test their knowledge of the Earth-moon system by creating scale models and learn about the history and future of lunar science and exploration.
How did Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins get to the moon 50 years ago? Children can build their own rockets and learn about the incredible technology that enabled humans to reach for the stars, learn about the different roles that communication plays in exploration and discovery with hands-on activities and get a chance to work with a science communication expert to record and star in their own STEM COM video.
At 1 p.m. at the Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse, a Past, Present, Future NASA Flight Director Panel features alumni panelists Allison Bolinger (future), Marcos Flores (future), Gary Horlacher (present) and Wayne Hale (past). The panel is moderated by past flight director Tomas Gonzalez-Torres. This event is free, but a ticket is required.
From 4 to 4:30 p.m. is the Lunar Module Landing Celebration in the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering.
A 5 p.m. panel on Industry’s Crucial Role in the Apollo 11 Mission is free, but requires a ticket. The panel features a few Purdue alums who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo 11 mission possible including Ron Larsen (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Tim Harmon (Boeing Company’s Rocketdyne Division) and Chesterfield Janes (IBM Mechanical Systems Manager).
For more information on the celebration, visit purdue.edu/apollo11/events/index.php.
