Straight to the Moon – well, Houston.
This week pretty much everyone is celebrating and commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 launch and the first manned mission to land on the Moon.
And today, July 17 -the same day Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin Buzz Aldrin made their first TV transmission from Earth to space – United Airlines is hosting a special celebration flight from Newark Liberty International (EWR) airport to Houston’s Georg Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).
Why fly to Houston now?
Houston is also known as “Space City” because it is home to NASA’s Mission Control Center at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
StuckatTheAirport.com is going along on Flight 355. We’re promised space-themed entertainment, inflight gifts (yay!) and “special onboard guests who have first-hand experience in space.”
We think that means astronauts will on board…
Once we land in Houston, we’ll join Space Center Houston’s Apollo Anniversary Celebration and get to tour the Apollo Mission Control Center, among other activities.
We’ll also try to taste some of the special cocktails and menu items being served this month at two OTG restaurants at IAH that were inspired by meals the astronauts ate during the Apollo 11 mission.
The astronauts were served “meals” that look like this:
But the special “Eat Like an Astronaut” dishes on the menu at Ember Tavern and Tanglewood Grille in United Airlines’ Terminal C and E at IAH look far more appetizing:
Stay tuned here and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for Apollo 11 celebration pictures along the way.
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I’m envious, and looking forward to reading about your moon-related adventure. As a kid in the 70s, I was fascinated by the space program and the moon landings. I launched model rockets, studied math and science, and was lucky enough to graduate from MIT, and later work at NASA/Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where my work literally involved exploring other planets in our solar system. I hope you have a terrific and interesting trip!