The exhibition, designed to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, is the U.K.’s biggest exhibition dedicated to Earth’s celestial neighbor.
The exhibition is at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, U.K. The museum is housed in one of the historic buildings which forms part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Most of the museum is dedicated to all-things sea and navigation.
In addition, 2019 sees the special exhibition ‘Destination Moon‘.
The exhibition charts the cultural and scientific story of humanity’s relationship with the Moon. There are artworks from J.M.W. Turner, El Anatsui, Tom Hammick and Larissa Sansour on show, plus Hugh Percy Wilkins’s Map of the Moon, which is highly detailed and took years to construct.
There are many objects showcasing our fascination with the Moon:
There are various objects showing how the Moon has influenced a variety of things, from early medicine, religion, fine art and through to pop culture.
Included in the exhibition is one of the first, powerful telescopes used to study the Moon – the Nasmyth telescope, where light is reflected sideways before reaching the primary mirror again.
Included in the exhibition are lunar samples collected from NASA’s Apollo missions and the Soviet Union’s Luna program, plus fragments of meteorites from the Moon which have reached Earth. An example of one of the lunaites on display is shown below:
The exhibition features over 180 objects, including important artifacts from NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.
A large section of the museum is focused on re-living the momentous events of the original ‘Space Race’, though the use of objects and audio / visual material.
Included among the objects is the Apollo 11 flight-plan, where detailed minute-by-minute activities were recorded. Instructions for each astronaut are indicated by their job title initials.
Plus Buzz Aldrin’s ‘Snoopy cap’:
And examples of the equipment used on the Moon to collect lunar samples:
And no exhibition would be complete without a replica of the Saturn V rocket, used for the Apollo missions:
Plus there are items from more recent lunar missions, including Chandrayaan-1, which was the first Indian lunar probe under Chandrayaan program. The item below is a type of spectrophotometer used on the lunar mission.
The exhibition also looks ahead to the future of space exploration and the 21st century drive for humans to return to the Moon.
This includes the cultural and political ramifications, delving into questions like ‘who owns the Moon?’, ‘how will the Moon be exploited?’, and ‘will we build lunar bases?’
The enticing exhibition in London, chronicling both our bewitching relationship to the Moon and the Apollo missions, runs until January 5, 2020.
