TUKWILA, Wash. — It's all systems go for the 50th anniversary of humanity's greatest voyage. Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission has landed at the Museum of Flight. Featuring artifacts from the 1969 lunar landing, the exhibit tells the story of the three men who journeyed to the moon and the 400,000 people who worked behind the scenes to get them there.
Among the highlights is the command module Columbia, the only part of the spacecraft not jettisoned or left behind on the moon.
"You can see the scorch marks on the capsule," says Adjunct Curator Geoff Nunn.
It's on loan from the Smithsonian along with more than 20 other priceless artifacts.
Nunn says, "If someone asks, 'Do you want to borrow the Apollo 11 command module for the 50th?' you say yes."
You'll come face-to-face with artifacts seen in some of history's most famous images, including the helmet and gloves worn by astronaut Buzz Aldrin on his moonwalk.
An F-1 rocket engine in the exhibit stands 19 feet tall. Five of them were required to launch a single Saturn V rocket into space.
Visitors can also view the pen that Aldrin used on the moon as part of a makeshift fix for a broken circuit breaker.
"That circuit breaker happened to be the breaker that would arm the engine to get them back off the moon," Nunn says.
Fifty years ago, they made the impossible happen. Now, at the Museum of Flight, you can take that journey with them.
Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission is at the Museum of Flight through Sept 2, 2019. | 9404 E Marginal Way S, Seattle, WA 98108
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