Moon Sites
A Taste of Space
You can’t touch down on the Sea of Tranquility as the Apollo 11 astronauts did half a century ago. But there are many places to visit here on Earth that are inextricably tied to the 1969 Moon mission and can give visitors a taste of what the actual lunar experience was like. —Troy Petenbrink
01 Meteor Crater
Flagstaff, Arizona
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins trained at Meteor Crater, one of the most perfectly preserved impact craters on the planet, to simulate the moon’s battered surface. The Meteor Crater Visitor Center offers a 4-D immersive ride called “Collision Experience,” artifacts like an actual Apollo test capsule and breathtaking tours around the rim of the crater itself. 02 Lowell Observatory
Flagstaff, Arizona
The observatory, which assisted NASA in mapping the surface of the Moon for the Apollo program, is joining in Flagstaff’s “Lunar Legacy” celebration on July 20, offering tours, astronaut talks, activities for kids and a screening of the documentary Apollo 11. 03 Armstrong Air and Space Museum Wapakoneta, Ohio
Neil Armstrong’s hometown has a space suit he wore, the Gemini 8 he piloted and the first plane he flew. From July 12–21 the town celebrates Apollo 11 with a parade, model rockets, hot-air balloons and more. 08 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas
Every aspect of the Apollo 11 mission was monitored here. You can see astronaut training facilities and the largest public collection of lunar samples, plus an Apollo module, a Saturn 5 rocket and a replica of the shuttle Independence. The rock band Walk the Moon and singer Phillip Phillips perform at an Apollo 50th Live concert on July 20.
04 The Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
Just a few miles from Washington D.C., Goddard was responsible for tracking and communications for Apollo 11. It’s still a major NASA research laboratory today, with interactive exhibits and a “garden” filled with vehicles, rockets and flight hardware including an Apollo capsule. 05 The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Washington, D.C. You’ll find a wide array of artifacts from Apollo 11 in the “50 Years from Tranquility Base” exhibit, including the Columbia command module, Michael Collins’ typed mission checklist and Neil Armstrong’s Omega Speedmaster and spacesuit. 06 The Kennedy Space Center Cape Canaveral, Florida Every Apollo mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center. The vistor’s complex includes historic spacecraft, exhibits and IMAX movies. Bus tours visit Launch Pad 39A, where Apollo 11 took off, and the Apollo/ Saturn 5 Center, which houses a slab of moon rock you can touch. 07 The U.S. Space & Rocket Center Huntsville, Alabama Designing the Saturn 5 rocket that propelled Apollo 11 was the responsibility of engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The nearby U.S. Space & Rocket Center has a Saturn 5 on view, along with exhibits like “Apollo: When We Went to the Moon,” which runs through December 2019.