Apollo: When We Went to the Moon

On Display

March 18, 2023 to December 31, 2023

Exhibition Type

Limited Time Exhibition

Time Period

1924 to Present

Topics

Business & Industry

Science & Technology

An interior of a gallery with a space capsule, photo of Earth and surface of the moon, and a spacesuit in a display case.

About the Exhibition: Apollo: When We Went to the Moon chronicled the timeline from the beginning of the Space Race – a time when the U.S. and Soviet Union competed over their accomplishments in space exploration – to the collaborative culture of the International Space Station program and beyond. Through objects and artifacts from the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s archives that set the scene for the era, it explored the social and political forces that pushed these nations to sacrifice man and machine in order to be the first humans to set foot on the moon. Exhibition visitors were able to experience the best of technology and exploration through the eyes of the engineers and in the boots of the astronauts who took us to the moon 50 years ago.

Black and white photo of Katherine Johnson sitting at a desk writing on a large printed spreadsheet. A globe and machine sit on the desk in front of her.

Katherine G. Johnson at work, 1962. Photo by Bob Nye, courtesy of NASA Langley Research Center.

Apollo & Virginia: The Apollo 11 Moon landing (July 20, 1969) forever changed our understanding of humanity’s limitations and furthered man’s collective fascination with interplanetary travel. While humankind is certain of when we got to the Moon, many do not know the important role Virginia played in getting us there.

The history of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton reveals the complex and sometimes dangerous work that needs to happen to take us to infinity and beyond. The VMHC partnered with Langley to present a special section of the exhibition that explored Virginia's place in the story of how the U.S. went from having the smallest aeronautics program in the Western world to becoming the first nation to land an astronaut on the Moon.

Exhibition Themes

Introduction and the Cold War
The Rocket Men
The JFK Imperative
The Race is On
Saturn V Launch Gallery
The World Watches
The Mission: Apollo 11
On the Lunar Surface
The Apollo Gallery
A Way Forward Together
Back to the Moon

Object Highlights

Apollo Command Module
Apollo 15 Lunar Rover model
Lunar Meteorite touchable slice
Von Braun drafting set
Various models of rockets and launch vehicles
Soviet SK-1 Space Suit
Mercury Capsule film prop
Apollo suits including gloves, bubble helmets, visors, and moon boots
Procedures manual and checklists
Saturn V Model 1:10 scale
Historical newspapers, magazines, and letters
Jupiter missile nose cone
ISS Model 1:100 scale
Sputnik model 1:1

Exhibition Experiences

Apollo 11 launch experience: Surround-projection with thunderous audio and actual video
Virtually walk atop the moon: Leave footprints behind
Climb aboard a lunar rover model: Experience how astronauts get around on the moon
Examine a period television storefront: See and hear footage broadcast around the world
Touchtable exploration of the actual rocket scientists leading the space race: Learn about the German foundations in engineering utilized in the U.S. and the USSR

Sensory Note: This exhibition features bright lights, video, and overlapping sound experiences.

Apollo 11 Featured Artifacts

Apollo 11 crew: 3 astronauts in spacesuits hold their helmets and pose in front of a large photograph of the moon

Photo courtesy of NASA.

Apollo 11 Crew, 1969 NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

(Left to right): Commander Neil A. Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.

Black and white photo of John F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at a podium in front of a large microphone

Photo courtesy of NASA.

President Kennedy Challenges NASA to Go to the Moon, 1961.

In an address to Congress on "Urgent National Needs" on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy called for America to send astronauts to the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade.

John C. Houbolt stands in front of a blackgoard with chalk darwings of the moon and physics equations

Photo courtesy of NASA Langley Research Center.

John C. Houbolt, 1961.

John C. Houbolt explaining his space rendezvous concept for lunar landings. The Lunar Orbital Rendezvous (LOR) would be used in the Apollo program.

Inside the Apollo Exhibition

A large-scale model of the Saturn V Rocket reaches almost from the floor to the ceiling in the VMHC's Commonwealth Hall.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a 1:10 scale model of the Saturn V Rocket was on display the VMHC's Commonwealth Hall.

Amateur rocket enthusiast Steve Eves launched this model in Maryland on April 25, 2009, where it flew 4,441 feet high and landed safely. Until the 2022 launch of Artemis I, the original Saturn V rocket was the most powerful vehicle ever successfully flown. The first piloted flight of a Saturn V rocket was for Apollo 8 in 1968, allowing astronauts to orbit the Moon for the first time. Using a Saturn V rocket for Apollo 11 (1969), NASA landed the first astronauts on the Moon.