By Harriet Baskas, contributor
On July 20th, and throughout the summer, communities around the country will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing and man’s first steps on the moon.
Events range from art shows and space camps to symphonies, sweepstakes, the creation of the world’s largest moon pie and a life-sized astronaut made out of cheese.
Sound like fun? Then fire up the rocket ship and head on over to one of these eclectic and educational moon-landing anniversary events.";
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The hometown of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon land during the Summer Moon Festival, July 13-20.
Highlights include free space movies, a Tang recipe contest, the world’s largest moon pie (weighing 55 pounds and measuring 40 inches in diameter) and a life-size carving of an astronaut made entirely of cheese.
On July 20th, Wapakoneta’s Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum, which displays an Armstrong space suite and variety of Apollo 11 artifacts, will host a community open house (free admission for county residents; half price for others) with commemorative First Day Covers from the post office for sale.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","USS Hornet Museum, Alameda, Calif.","President Richard Nixon jokes with quarantined just-home-from-the-moon astronauts on the USS Hornet.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/Alameda%20-%20Nixon%20Telling%20astronauts%20jokes.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Used with permission from \"Hornet Plus Three: The Story of the Apollo 11 Recovery\"", "273", "320", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i-1].body = "
The Navy chose the aircraft carrier USS Hornet as the primary recovery ship for Apollo 11 and on July 24th, 1969, President Richard Nixon and other dignitaries were on hand when the Hornet recovered the Columbia command module and its three astronaut-occupants after it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
To celebrate its role in the moon landing, the USS Hornet will host Splashdown 2009 from July 23rd through July 26th at the former Alameda naval base in San Francisco Bay.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","City-wide celebrations in Houston","Lunar Landscape exhibit at Space Center Houston.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/Houston%20-%20Lunar%20landscape%20exhibit.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Space Center Houston", "273", "413", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i-1].body = "
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced his intention to send U.S. astronauts to the moon during a speech in Houston. In 1969, as the home of NASA’s Mission Control Center, \"Houston\" became the first word astronaut Neil Armstrong uttered from the moon, when he reported: \"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
So it’s no surprise that the 40th anniversary of the moon landing is a city-wide celebration for Houston. There are special exhibits at the Space Center Houston, an outdoor viewing of the lunar landing on a giant inflatable screen (July 18), an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston that explores man’s fascination with the moon, and a Houston Symphony performance of Gustav Holst's \"The Planets\" set to giant images from NASA’s latest space explorations.
For a complete list of events, click here.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.","The Apollo 11 command module Columbia carried astronauts Armstong, Aldrin and Collins to the moon and back in July, 1969.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/Smithsonian%20-%20Columbia%20capsule.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "Eric Long", "National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution", "273", "245", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i-1].body = "
In addition to an exhibit of paintings by Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean, astronaut appearances, lectures and a wide range of other moon-landing anniversary events at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington D.C., visitors can see a wide variety of Apollo 11 artifacts, including the command module Columbia, the replica of the Moon Lander, and the original space suits worn on the moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
An Egress Trainer used by the Apollo 11 Astronauts as well as the Mobil Quarantine Facility that the astronauts, a doctor and a support staffer spent 65 hours in as they were transported from the ocean to the USS Hornet to Pearl Harbor to an Air Force C-141 and then to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, are at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, next to Washington Dulles International Airport.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","American Library Association touring exhibit","Exploring the Moon poster.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/090715-moon-intearactive-8a.vlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "American Library Association", "358", "201", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
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The American Library Association is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, and space exploration in general, with a free traveling exhibit titled “Visions of the Universe: Four Centuries of Discovery.”
The exhibit is touching down at 40 libraries around the country and includes a detailed section about the exploration of the moon.
Click here to see if the exhibit is scheduled to visit your local library and here to download your own “Exploring the Moon” poster and other moon-related materials.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","Adler Planetarium, Chicago","Adler Planetarium's interactive Moon Wall is 13 feet wide, 6 feet tall and displays the latest lunar images.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/CHICAGO%20-%20ALDER%20Planetarium%20MoonWall1.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Adler Planetarium", "273", "441", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i-1].body = "
Chicago’s Adler Planetarium is having a month-long celebration with lots of hands-on activities, a weekly commemorative poster giveaway and drawings for prizes.
Visitors can see astronaut-artifacts (such as a penlight that Buzz Aldrin carried on the Apollo 11 mission), explore the planetarium’s new Shoot for the Moon exhibition, with its giant interactive Moon Wall, and, on July 20th, enjoy a piece of Lunar Lander cake at 3:17 p.m., the exact time that Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
That night, the planetarium will also stay open until 10 p.m. for free telescope viewing.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","Borders Books' Train Like an Astronaut sweepstakes","Three lucky families will win a two-day \"Train Like an Astronaut\" session at the Kennedy Space Center.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/BORDERS%20ATX%20Shuttle%20Mock-up%20Interior.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Kennedy Space Center", "273", "382", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
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Borders Books will host a Space Camp event with astronaut games, activities and stories for kids in Borders superstores across the nation, beginning at 2 p.m. on July 25th.
There’s also a “Train Like an Astronaut” sweepstakes: three families will win a four-day trip to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and get to participate in the Family Astronaut Training Experience that includes flight simulator rides, lunch with an astronaut and a tour of the Space Center.
Other prizes include a telescope and subscriptions and calendars from Astronomy Magazine.
You can enter the contest through July 27th.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","Museum of Flight, Seattle","This 53-foot-long trailer is filled with out-of-this-world activities.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/Seattle%20-%20Museum%20of%20flight%20trailer.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Seattle Museum of Flight", "273", "410", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i-1].body = "
From July 23-25th, Seattle’s Museum of Flight is hosting NASA’s The Vision for Space Exploration Experience exhibit, which is housed in a 53-foot-long tractor-trailer rig.
The exhibit includes holographic video maps of the moon and an interactive floor that gives visitors the feeling of walking on the surfaces of the moon and Mars.
In addition to artifacts such as an Apollo command training module and a Boeing mock-up of a Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) that reside at the museum year-round, the museum is exhibiting one of astronaut John Young’s Apollo 10 spacesuits through July 31st.
Through September 12th, the museum also has an exhibit of original sketches and paintings by Paul Calle, the artist hired by NASA to document the space program during the 1960s and the only artist allowed to observe and to sketch pre-flight preparations for Apollo 11.
Click here for a complete list of moon-landing activities.";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","NASA Glenn Center, Cleveland","Visitors to Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center can see a real moon rock returned from an Apollo mission.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/Cleveland%20-%20Moon%20Rock.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "NASA Glenn Research Center", "273", "350", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i-1].body = "
In Cleveland, the NASA Glenn Research Center will be marking the moon landing anniversary on Saturday, July 18th, with a free event -- including tours of a wind tunnel that can create winds that travel faster than three times the speed of sound, and a drop tower scientists use to create the weightlessness of space.
Both facilities were used during the development of the Apollo spacecraft. Visitors can get pictures taken in the “Picture Yourself in Space\" photo booth and see the Apollo Command Module that carried three astronauts to Skylab, the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo vehicles into space, an Apollo spacesuit worn during a Skylab mission and a real moon rock. ";
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i++] = new Array("","Flagstaff Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz.","Flagstaff USGS geologists, acting as astronauts, field testing the simulated Lunar Module at Cinder Lake Crater.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Sections/Travel%20Section/z_Columnists/Harriet%20Baskas/Harriet%202009%20BRILLS/__Moon%20landing/Flagstaff%20New%20Image.hlarge.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "NASA", "273", "289", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Travel_Moonlanding_Baskas[i-1].body = "
When the Apollo 11 astronauts headed for the moon, they couldn’t just pull over and ask for directions along the way. So they needed to take along some really good maps.
The telescopes at Lowell Observatory were used to help create those maps and the observatory’s Flagstaff Goes to the Moon exhibit describes the role that thousands of Flagstaff individuals played in moon mapping, astronaut training and instrument testing.";
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