Launch to the Moon

Launch to the Moon

For centuries, mankind has explored, always reaching for the next frontier. From Magellan to Columbus, mankind has searched for new land, expanded freedoms and political dominance. From 1957 to 1976,…

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Launch to the Moon

For centuries, mankind has explored, always reaching for the next frontier. From Magellan to Columbus, mankind has searched for new land, expanded freedoms and political dominance. From 1957 to 1976, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a race to the ultimate frontier – outer space. From the first satellite images taken of the Moon by the Soviets in 1959, to the historic walk on the Moon made by Neil Armstrong in 1969, the race to space was marked with triumph and tragedy.

Today, the Moon is as compelling as it has ever been. Sophisticated ground- and space-based exploration has revealed new information about the surface of the Moon and its evolutionary history. The advances in lunar discovery could not have been made without the early pioneers of space exploration representing the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Space Foundation is pleased to present Launch to the Moon, the inaugural exhibit of the Space Foundation Discovery Center. Located in the El Pomar Space Gallery, Launch to the Moon takes you on a journey to examine the early lunar exploration and discoveries that resulted from both the Soviet and American experience.

Join us to learn how astronauts and cosmonauts live in space, what they eat, what they wear and what they do. Explore the amazing solar technology developed by the Soviets with the design of the Lunokhod, a robotic moon buggy that was secretly launched and deployed during the Cold War and was recently re-discovered on the surface of the Moon. Learn about the Soviet Luna series of launches that successfully returned lunar samples to the Earth. And see a model of the U.S. Lunar Module (LM) that enabled humans to land on the Moon.