A day of commemoration

I blogged last night about today being the 40th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon by the Apollo 11 mission. Today saw celebrations and commemorations all across the country.

The three mission astronauts gathered at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, where the Apollo 11 command module is displayed, and were photographed in front of the capsule. From left to right: Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.




NASA has released new, high-resolution photographs of most of the Apollo landing sites on the moon, taken by the recently-launched Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Apollo 11's landing module can be clearly seen in the center of the white ring on the photograph below: its shadow extends for some distance to the right.




High-resolution versions of this and other Apollo landing site photographs may be found at this link (clicky to lookee).

Last but not least, the Kennedy Space Center had its own inimitable way of celebrating the occasion.

Florida's Kennedy Space Center Monday gave out pieces of "one of the world's largest MoonPies" to mark the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, officials said.

The MoonPie, comprised of six pounds of chocolate and 14 pounds of marshmallow, was given to the hungry public at the Visitor Complex's rock garden at 2 p.m. to mark the 40th anniversary of the mission that first put man on the moon.

Well, I suppose it's a sweet memory . . .



Peter