Reach The Moon: Apollo 11 Exhibit Opens At Museum Of Flight

SEATTLE, WA — This is about as close as you'll ever get to the surface of the moon.

The exhibit "Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission" opens at the Museum of Flight on Saturday, showcasing rarely seen artifacts from the first human journey to the moon. This is final stop on a four-city tour, culminating in a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing on July 20.

The exhibit comes to the Museum of Flight (located near the site where Boeing was born over 100 years ago) from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The centerpiece of the exhibit is the NASA Apollo 11 command module, Columbia. But there's plenty more, like astronaut Buzz Aldrin's helmet, and a special mechanical pencil that was used during the Apollo 11 mission.

The 1969 moon landing was the crowning achievement of the space race. It took Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins about four days to reach the moon after blasting off from the John F. Kennedy Space Center along Florida's Atlantic coast. Aldrin and Armstrong landed the lunar module Eagle in the moon's Sea of Tranquility. The two astronauts spent almost a full day on the moon's surface before returning to Columbia.

This is the first time these artifacts have toured the country since the early 1970s. There is a festival planned for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in July before the exhibit heads back to Washington, D.C., permanently.

Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission
Museum of Flight, 9404 E. Marginal Way South, Seattle
Admission: $10, plus museum entry fee
April 13 - Sept. 2, hours vary by day
http://www.museumofflight.org/