Today is the 50-Year Anniversary of the successful completion of Apollo 9, the first flight of the Lunar Module. We hosted LM Pilot Rusty Schweickart & B612 for a dinner, and tonight, the gala with all three Apollo 9 astronauts and Gene Krantz from mission control!
We also took a preview tour of the new space exhibit (which opens tomorrow), with the Apollo 9 Command Module and the only GPS Satellite on display.
Rusty’s reflections: “We went to the Moon as Americans; we’ll go to Mars and on as people from Earth.
And do this we must if we’re to have the time needed to become, as Elon Musk says, a multi-planet species.
So for me, this is the big deal worthy of celebration 50 years after we first landed on the Moon. Landed on the Moon… and looked back at the Earth! What we saw was a fantastic reality; the unbelievably beautiful home of all the life in our little corner of the Universe. What we realized was our responsibility for doing whatever we can to extend and continue this amazing evolutionary experiment we call life.
Now what’s a bigger deal than that? So wherever you are on March 13, 2019, we’re all together, one way or another.” —https://www.RustySchweickart.com
Event Site: http://sandiegoairandspace.org/calendar/event/50th-anniversary-of-apollo-9
For the anniversary, I also posted a bunch of Apollo 9 artifacts that I have collected over the years: https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=44124348109%40N01&sort=date-taken-desc&text=%22apollo%209%22&view_all=1
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