Apollo 11

See Neil Armstrong’s space suit at the ballpark

June 5, 2019Harriet BaskasSpace, UncategorizedApollo 11, baseball, baseball parks, National Air and Space Museum, Space, spacesuits

*At the U.S. Naval Air Material Center in Philadelphia, a player swings a baseball bat in a B.F. Goodrich Mark IV spacesuit. Courtesy Smithsonian Institution*

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum has launched “Apollo at the Park,” a project that will place 15 replica statues of Neil Armstrong’s iconic Apollo 11 spacesuit in major league ballparks across country.

National Park in Washington, D.C. got its statue this week.

Neil Armstrong spacesuit statues are coming soon to a participating ballpark near you: https://t.co/PdRW85UOsX 👨‍🚀⚾️

When you visit the statues, use your phone for a content activation to learn more about #Apollo11, and make sure to share your photos using #SnapTheSuit. #Apollo50 pic.twitter.com/yps3cClTMY
— National Air and Space Museum (@airandspace) June 4, 2019

Here are the rest of the team parks where statues will appear this summer at part of Apollo at the Park.

Atlanta Braves
Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs
Cleveland Indians
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Detroit Tigers
Houston Astros
Minnesota Twins
New York Yankees
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Francisco Giants
Seattle Mariners
Tampa Bay Rays

What’s the connection between space and baseball and that photo above? According to the Smithsonian:

“In the late 1950s, workers at the U.S. Naval Air Material Center in Philadelphia took to a makeshift field in some interesting uniforms — B.F. Goodrich Mark IV spacesuits. The game was staged as a flexibility demonstration for the spacesuit. The final score of the baseball game is unknown, but the Mark IV would evolve to become the original Project Mercury spacesuit, a definite home run!“

And for stats fans, the National Air & Space Museum offer this:

*A ballpark stadium seat is roughly the same size at the Apollo 11 seat that Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins sat in for three days on their journey to the moon.

*The Apollo 11 landing site, Tranquility Base, and the lunar area that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin explored is roughly the size of a baseball diamond.

45th anniversary of first moon walk

July 20, 2014Harriet BaskasSpaceApollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, moon walk, NASA, Neil Armstron, Space

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the moon. Photo courtesy NASA

It’s the 45h anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the first time human beings walked on the moon.

In case you weren’t around on July 20, 1969 and weren’t on Twitter, NASA is “live tweeting” the event today at @reliveApollo11.

Neil Armstrong on the moon. Courtesy NASA

Rare aviation & space treasures on view in Seattle

May 8, 2014Harriet BaskasExhibits, HistoryApollo 11, Buzz Aldrin, Museum of Flight, Neil Armstrong, Wright Brothers

Two rare, historic and rarely-seen documents relating to the history of aviation and the exploration of spare are on display at Seattle’s Museum of Flight through the end of May.

The first document is the original contract between Wilbur and Orville Wright and their creation, the Wright Company, in 1909. In the document, the brothers agree to transfer and assign to the Wright Company two U.S. patents that describe their successful flying machine.

The other document is the 1969 Apollo 11 Command Service Module Maneuver Card, which has Neil Armstrong’s and Buzz Aldrin’s most extensive flight notes from the first visit to the Moon.

Cool, right? Both papers are part of the museum’s permanent collection, but are rarely shown because of their value and fragility.