Totally Texas -- Remembering the Apollos

Moon Day

Frontiers of Flight Museum

6911 Lemmon Avenue

Dallas, TX 75209

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It’s been more than forty years since a human being last set foot on the moon. Even my daughter’s too young to remember. But this Saturday, July 20, the Frontiers of Flight Museum near Dallas Love Field airport will celebrate the anniversary of the very first moon landing, July 20, 1969.

In cooperation with Ken Murphy of The Moon Society and the National Space Society of North Texas, the museum hosts family-oriented activities, including robotics demonstrations, close-ups of meteorites, and inflatable planetariums from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The first two hundred kids through the door when the museum opens will receive free “lunar sample” bags with magazines, stickers, posters, and more. You’ll need separate registration for the model rocket building class and “space hacker” workshop on designing and building microgravity science payloads. All other activities are included in the museum’s regular admission of $8 for adults, $6 for seniors age 65 and older, and $5 for children ages 3-17. Children under three are admitted free. And yes, there’s a break room for snacks and an indoor play area for the smaller kids.

New to Moon Day this year are chances for Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts to earn badges for STEM activities (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

The museum’s regular space flight exhibits include a room dedicated to artifacts of the Apollo missions, including the only lunar rock in North Texas, and the command module from the 1968 Apollo 7 mission of October 1968 where you can marvel at how three astronauts lived in a vehicle whose interior is smaller than that of many cars.

Is space too far out for your taste? Take a look at the museum’s collection of historic aircraft and board a complete Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 -- housed inside the
museum.

And for another break from Texas heat, the museum hosts a birthday bash the following Wednesday, July 24, in honor of pioneering woman aviator Amelia Earhart. Birthday celebrations for Earhart, who disappeared on an around the world flight in 1937, are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with birthday cake at 2 p.m.

For more information about Moon Day and the Frontier of Flight Museum, see www.flightmuseum.com/.

For information about the National Space Society of North Texas, see www.nsschapters.org/tx/nt/.

Totally Texas -- Adventure out of this world

Moon Day 2012

Frontiers of Flight Museum

6911 Lemmon Avenue, Dallas

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Today, July 20, marks the forty-third anniversary of the first landing of human beings on the moon. (Make that Moon with a capital M.) My grandsons watched videos of space exploration at Dallas’s Frontiers of Flight Museum. They were entranced, but demanded, “Did that really happen?” Because no one has set foot on the Moon in their lifetimes.

This Saturday, Frontiers of Flight and the National Space Society of North Texas (NSS of NT) sponsor Moon Day 2012 to help keep the dream of human space travel alive. Twenty exhibitors, family-themed films, and a traveling planetarium from the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History will join the museum’s standing exhibits of the U.S. space program, including the space suit illustrating this post.

The first two hundred kids through the doors (opening at 10 a.m.) get “lunar sample” bags, and everybody gets a chance to see Moon rocks, learn how to build a comet, and hear updates on the future of space transportation in the post-space shuttle era, among other topics.

The solar system’s a bit too cozy for your taste? Take a peek inside the “portable universe” from the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science.

Want to help your children (borrow some, if necessary) build a flying model rocket? Ask at the Frontiers of Flight registration desk. (There’s an extra fee for this.) The day of good clean lunar fun lasts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 21.

Frontiers of Flight is located on the outskirts of Dallas’s Love Field airport. Admission is $8 for adults, $3 for children ages 3-17. For more information, see www.nssofnt.org/.


And if you’re thinking of a lunar family vacation, you’ll want to ask exhibitors which of your kids’ toys will operate in the Moon’s microgravity. Because plans for civilian space flights are in the works. Space Adventures is a private company reported to be taking orders for a flight around the Moon. (Sorry -- actual moon walks aren’t on the agenda yet.) This past spring, Air & Space Smithsonian discussed what it takes to book the week-long true vacation of a lifetime. You can email Space Adventures through www.spaceadventures.com/ for details.

The Smithsonian article at www.airspace.mag.com/ provides more information than Space Adventures is willing to divulge without knowing some pertinent information
about potential clients. Like whether they’re billionaires. Yes, it will be a pricey trip. But at least we can dream for free.