Apollo 11: From Launch to Landing
July 19, 2019 at 7pm
On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins launched from Cape Canaveral on a Saturn V rocket headed for the Moon. Three nights later, they were closing in quickly on Mare Tranquilitatis where they landed on July 20. Join us at Fiske Planetarium fifty years to the eve of this historic landing event when we will celebrate the ambition and engineering feats that made this mission possible. Fiske Director, John Keller will provide an overview of the events leading up to the Apollo 11 landing, with additional perspective provided by his father Warren Keller, who worked on the Saturn V rocket as a testing engineer for MacDonald Douglas during the Apollo era.
Biographies: Dr. John Keller is a planetary scientist, astronomy educator, and Director of Fiske Planetarium. He was just three months old in July 1969, but he has been reminded by his mother for decades that he watched the TV intently as Neil Armstrong took the first human steps on the Moon that summer. At the time, his father Warren Keller, was working on Apollo in Los Angeles, California, as a test engineer for MacDonald Douglas. Warren and his family moved to Idaho in 1973, where he continued as a mechanical engineer into the 2000s with several companies including Hewlett Packard. John remembers his first planetarium visit as a 2nd grade student in Boise. His parents bought him a telescope in 6th grade, and he completed his PhD in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona in 24th grade. Both Keller’s are looking forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing this July at Fiske Planetarium.
Regular ticket prices apply ($10). Groupons can be used.