50 years ago today… Almost a decade of long hours by 400,000 people
50 years ago today… Almost a decade of long hours by 400,000 people across the United States to answer President John F. Kennedy’s challenge resulted in this one moment. While command module pilot Mike Collins remained in lunar orbit, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the moon.
50 years later, we have had humans living and working on the International Space Station for almost 19 years. Let that sink in. It has been almost 19 years since every human was on the Earth at one time. Right now Grand Rapids native NASA Astronaut Christina Hammock Koch is living aboard the station. She and her two crewmates will welcome three more crew members who are launching today. And NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration is preparing to return to the moon by 2024, when the first woman and the next man will again walk on the surface. There are several Apollo astronauts from Michigan on display here at the Michigan Heroes Museum: Grand Rapids native Roger Chaffee, who lost his life in the Apollo 1 fire in 1967; Apollo 9 commander and Jackson, MI native Jim McDivitt; Apollo 15 command module pilot Al Worden also from Jackson and the only Michigan astronaut who traveled to the moon; and Skylab II pilot Jack Lousma, also from Grand Rapids. Their uniforms, flightsuits and other donated artifacts can be seen in our astronaut gallery, 10am – 5pm daily. Honor. Respect. Remember.