NASA, Space Geeks Prepare To Celebrate 50th Anniversary Of Moon Landing
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's T-minus one month to the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing and NASA is celebrating with what it calls a "Lunar Summer."
The Apollo 11 mission culminated on July 20, 1969 when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became lunar pioneers.
One of today's lunar researchers is Dr. Noah Petro of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who told WCCO's Mike Augustyniak that ground control is still tying to reach "Major Tom."
"The Apollo exploration of the moon opened a new generation of our understanding of the moon, of the Earth, and, indeed, new analytical techniques that we're still using today when we get samples back from asteroids -- such as what will happen with Osiris-Rex -- and when we get the next samples returned from the moon through the Artemis program," Petro said.
Here at home, the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum is celebrating the year of Apollo with special exhibits all summer-long.
The full interview with Petro will run on WCCO Saturday Morning, which begins at 8 a.m.