Air & Space Museum Celebrates Apollo 11 Anniversary in July

A museum intern shows a visitor a piece of the foil that will be replaced on the the Lunar Module 2. (Photo by Matt Breitbart, courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum.)

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Forty years ago next month, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to step foot on the Moon. The National Air and Space Museum is celebrating Apollo 11's historic journey throughout July, with book signings, presentations by experts on the Saturn V rocket, the Lunar Module, and even one on the "so-called Moon-landing hoax." The capstone lecture featuring the entire Apollo 11 crew and Mission Control creator Chris Kraft sold-out instantly through a free lottery last month, unfortunately.

Today the Air and Space Museum sent us these photos of conservators restoring the Lunar Module 2 on the Mall museum's first floor. They started yesterday and will continue work to through tomorrow, encouraging visitors to stop by and ask questions, not to mention see rare glimpses of the inner-workings of the module. The LM2 was built for Earth-orbit testing prior to the Moon landing, but the test of the first module was so successful that the second one stayed on the ground where the astronauts used it for practice.

If you head down, be sure to ask them about the two missions launched just last week, leading NASA's way back to the Moon for the first time since Apollo; the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reached Moon orbit early this morning, while the LCROSS, on a wider path, is planned to impact the surface in October. See the LM2 restoration through Wednesday and see the rest of the Apollo 11 anniversary activities here.