Astronauts Land On L.I. To Celebrate Apollo Missions

Astronauts from every phase of NASA's space program, including one of the men who walked on the moon, came to the Cradle of Aviation in Garden City on Thursday to celebrate the start of the Countdown to
Apollo at 50 program that the museum is launching.

July 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon. To celebrate the historic occasion — and the important role that Long Island played in making it happen — the Cradle of Aviation announced an 18-month-long celebration that will feature new exhibits, school initiatives and community programs for people of all ages.

"'Countdown to Apollo at 50' is a monumental program as it celebrates one of the greatest achievements in U.S. space travel," said Andrew Parton, executive director of the Cradle of Aviation. "Long Island’s role in Apollo’s success cannot be denied and must be underscored to our children. We invite Long Islanders to come and celebrate the amazing work accomplished right here on Long Island to make space travel possible."

It was on Long Island that Northrup Grumman engineers designed and built the Lunar Module, which safely landed 12 men on the moon and got them off it again. In all, six Lunar Modules were built by Grumman, three of which were used in the ascent and descent stages of missions. The three remaining original Lunar Modules still in existence today are housed at the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C., the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Cradle of Aviation. LM-13, the Lunar Module at the Cradle of Aviation, was intended for the Apollo 18 mission to Copernicus Crater in 1973, which was ultimately cancelled.

Fred Haise was supposed to land on the moon in LM-13. He missed his first chance to land on Apollo 13, the ill-fated mission that almost ended in disaster. (Bill Paxton played him in the movie.) He was joined at the announcement ceremony by Alan Bean, who was an astronaut on Apollo 12 and the fourth man to walk on the moon.

"Particularly for Fred and I, we owe a lot to Grumman. We bet our life that the people at Grumman would do the right thing," Bean said. "We bet our life that they would make parts that would last. We knew every piece of hardware breaks eventually. But we hoped that the ones that Grumman made here wouldn't break during the 10 or 12 days of our mission."

Bean and Haise were joined at the announeement by Space Shuttle Astronauts Mary Cleave, who lives in Great Neck; Bill Shepard, who lives in Babylon; and Charlie Camarda, who lives in Queens.

As part of the Countdown to Apollo at 50 program, the Cradle of Aviation will be broadcasting some of the talks by special guests to children's hospitals around the US and Canada. The museum will also be partnering with Hofstra University to create a series of events for students there, as well as an academic conference
in the spring of 2019, and special guests at graduation that May.

Throughout the 18-month celebration, numerous school competitions and special STEM curriculum will take place, including a student video and essay project, and school visits from notable astronauts, scientists and
aerospace professionals. A full calendar of Countdown to Apollo at 50 events will be available at www.cradleofaviation.org beginning in January.

Photos: Alex Costello/Patch