Did you know that this year marks 50th anniversary of the Moon landing? Neil Armstrong made “one small step for a man, one huge leap for mankind” on July 20, 1969 and I should never forget this date as it is my birthday! (except that I was born a decade later ;-)) There will be many events around the U.S. to celebrate the Moon Landing Anniversary 2019.
Our family also visited NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July this year so I brought you back all the latest news from the place where the Moon mission was launched.
But there will be exciting Moon Landing Anniversary 2019 celebrations in San Francisco Bay Area too. Did you know that there are several science and space exploration attractions in Bay Area? Many are having special events throughout the year dedicated to this memorable date (some of the events are already advertised right now, for some venues you will need to check closer to the date). But even if you are not able to visit these science and space attractions and museums in Bay Area on the days of Moon Landing Anniversary 2019 celebrations they are still great for a one day educational family trip any time of year.
Chabot Space and Science Center
Chabot Space and Science Center is located in Oakland. It houses various space exploration exhibits, observatory and a planetarium. Chabot organizes many special events during the year including telescope viewings, themed events (ex. Star Wars Party or Simulated Space Mission). There will be a special Moon Landing Anniversary 2019 celebration in Chabot Space and Science Center on July 20.
The Space Station Museum
The Space Station museum is located in Novato. It is a smaller museum than Chabot Space and Science Center but it has interesting exhibits from both American and Russian space exploration programs. It has not announced any special events for Moon Landing Anniversary 2019 but keep checking their website closer to July.
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Ames Research Center is located in Mountain View. It has a small visitor’s center (entry FREE of charge). The star of their exhibition relevant to the Moon Landing Anniversary 2019 is the Moon rock.
USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum
Located on the USS Hornet aircraft carrier stationed in Alameda this museum houses the Space Race Exposition. USS Hornet served as the Prime Recovery Ship for the famous Apollo 11 and 12 missions and it now proudly displays many artifacts from that era of space exploration. Apollo 11 Recovery Exhibit has an immersive aspect to it: visitors can touch a recovery helicopter, a space flown Apollo spacecraft and a real moon germ trailer.
As part of Moon Landing Anniversary 2019 celebration the museum organized an additional, temporary, exposition called Apollo Splashdown. It is a story of the space race between the U.S. and USSR and the Moon landing missions that USS Hornet recovered after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. It is absolutely a must to take USS Hornet Tour if you are a fan of space exploration, history, ghost hunting and a bit of Hollywood.
Planetariums in Bay Area
There several planetariums in Bay Area, some are stand alone attractions, others – a part of a bigger science museum. I have already mentioned that Chabot Space and Science Center has a planetarium. Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley and California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco house planetariums too. Both are prime science museums in Bay Area. All the three planetariums operate throughout the year.
Stand alone planetariums in Bay Area include:
Fujitsu Planetarium at deAnza College, Cupertino. Here the shows are being shown to public only from October to May so there may not be specific Moon Landing Anniversary 2019 celebrations in July but this planetarium has a good long standing show about the Moon which you could still catch in May or re-visit in October.
Planetarium at the College of San Mateo, San Mateo. While Fujitsu Planetarium has shows several times a week, College of San Mateo Planetarium schedules their shows only once a month. Currently they only have Spring 2019 schedule on their website, so stay tuned for more.
Observatories in Bay Area
Foothill College Observatory, Los Altos Hills, organizes public weekly Friday evening viewings and Saturday solar viewings (weather permitting)
Lick Observatory, San Jose organizes public tours and special events during summer months. Tickets need to be purchased well in advance.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium is not a space exploration museum per say. It is a great science museum located in San Francisco. Nevertheless, Exploratorium plan some interesting events on July 20 to celebrate Moon Landing Anniversary 2019, including the Moon museum. Please, visit their website for more details.
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P.S. Photos attribution:
Chabot: photo credit: Yellow Devil IMG_20190324_113428 via photopin (license)
Lick: photo credit: Schaffner 20160211_0017.jpg via photopin (license)
Moon: photo credit: Frank Lammel Full moon HDR via photopin (license)
