NASA Prepares to Celebrate Moon Landing's 40th

As NASA prepares for a return to the Moon, it is also preparing for a special milestone on the horizon: the 40th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the moon at Tranquility Base, leaving footprints in the dust that will linger for millions of years.

July 20, 1969

It's difficult to imagine the setting for those not there. The United States was following a tough, violent year when Bobby Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King were killed, there were riots around the country, and American troops were fighting a guerrilla war in Vietnam.

Then in mid-1969, Apollo 11 did the impossible. It landed on the moon, visible in the night sky, but unreachable except through imagination. The Soviet Union, it's lunar landing project crippled beyond repair, could watch with the rest of us.

For a moment, the United States was united in its pride and sense of accomplishment, Countries that constantly bombarded the US with advice, criticism, and even contempt, for once offered respect and admiration.

It was a victory of imagination, hard work, and scientific achievement so profound it left, and leaves, some Americans mentally earthbound, defending a conspiracy theory predicated on the idea that the moon landing was filmed in a movie studio.

Celebrate, Everyone!

NASA has scheduled special celebrations, lectures, and commemoration activities at NASA Field Centers, Space Center Houston, the Wapakoneta Neil Armstrong Museum in Ohio, the LBJ Library, and elsewhere leading up to and held on the anniversary July 20th. Some of these are public events and others are not.

Anniversary Website

The space agency has also established a website to help enthusiasts enjoy the 40th anniversary at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html.

The website includes numerous features, not the least of which are interviews with average Americans talking about their memories of that day in July of 1969.

There's also a recorded roundtable discussion featuring the Apollo 8 astronauts who orbited the moon and sent back incredible photos of Earth rising over the lunar horizon. There are the comments of President Barack Obama regarding the Apollo technologies and plenty of information on the history of the Apollo program as well as plenty of photographs.

The website also tells of trees grown from seeds of loblolly pine, sycamore, sweet gum, redwood, and Douglas fir, flown to the moon by astronaut and former smokejumper Stuart Roosa on Apollo 14. The visitor will find details about the spin-offs from Apollo and . There's a lot more about the anniversary as well as links to current stories including the International Space Station and the mission to another, albeit more distant, neighbor...the red planet Mars.

Medal Ceremony

A Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for the Apollo 11 crew, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins, will be held July 21st in Washington DC. The Congressional Gold Medal, presented by Congress, ranks with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as the nation's highest civilian honor. The medal dates from the Revolutionary War.

On July 20, 2009, all eyes will be on the Moon and the Sea of Tranquility.