Destination Moon (or at least Tukwila, WA)

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Discussion Overview

This thread discusses a visit to The Museum of Flight in Tukwila, WA, focusing on a temporary exhibit commemorating the anniversary of the Moon landing. Participants share their experiences and observations of various space-related artifacts, including the Apollo 11 command module, space suits, and a Moon rock.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes their visit to the museum and the excitement of seeing Major Matt Mason toys and artifacts from the Gemini missions.
  • Another participant shares details about the Saturn V rocket engine and Buzz Aldrin's extravehicular visor and gloves, noting the visibility of a "cheat sheet" on the glove.
  • A participant expresses their awe at being close to the Apollo 11 command module Columbia, highlighting the hexagon pattern on the craft that resembles the heat shield material.
  • Participants discuss the challenges of photographing the Moon rock due to lighting conditions and battery issues, with one participant noting their spouse's better camera capabilities.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share a sense of excitement and appreciation for the exhibit, but there is no explicit consensus on the quality of the photographs or the experience of viewing the artifacts.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention issues with lighting and camera performance affecting the quality of images taken at the exhibit, which may limit the clarity of their observations.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals interested in space exploration, the history of the Moon landing, or those planning to visit The Museum of Flight may find this discussion informative.

Janus
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Drove up today to The Museum of Flight in Tukwila, WA ( a 3 hour drive) to see their temporary exhibit to honor the anniversary of the Moon landing.

First up, Major Matt Mason! They had a collection of space related toys from the time, and I couldn't resist snapping a photo, as I had one as a kid.
majmattmason.jpg


Now on the right stuff...

A pair of gloves made for the Gemini missions.
gemini_gloves.jpg


Gordon's jumpsuit from Gemini XI
GeminiXI_jumpsuit.jpg


A section of a Mission control panel.
mission control_long.jpg


A close up of a part of the panel. Check out that high tech rotary phone dial!
missioncontrol_close.jpg


More photos in the next post
 
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Continuing on: A full scale Saturn V rocket engine
Saturn engine.jpg


An example of new and ablated heat shield material
heat_shield.jpg


These are Buzz Aldrin's Extravehicular visor and Gloves
aldrin_visor.jpg


Viewed through a magnifier, you can see the "cheat sheet" of duties printed on the glove.
cheatsheet.jpg


A honest to goodness Moon rock ( sorry about the blurred image, the lighting was fairly dim and they didn't allow flash. As a result it was hard to hold the phone steady enough while focusing through glass to get a good picture. On top of that, my phone battery was dying a lot faster than it should and I was afraid to spend too much time on getting a picture of any given thing.
Moon_rock.jpg
 
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Okay, now we get to what I really drove 3 hrs to see. The actual Apollo 11, command module Columbia:
columbia1.jpg

Right there, just a couple of feet away with nothing between it and me but air was the actual craft that carried men to the Moon and back!

Here's a close up of some of the detail. Your can see the same hexagon pattern as was in the sample of heat shield material in the earlier photo.
columbia_detail.jpg


Well worth the trip. My wife had read about this exhibit in the AAA magazine, It's been there since April and Leaves next Month. There was no mention of it coming to any place closer to us, so we thought we'd kick ourselves if we missed the chance.
 
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Here is a 're-focused' copy of the Moon rock in post #2. The image seems to have been out of focus with a smear of 7 pixels.

Moon Rock.png
 
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Tom.G said:
Here is a 're-focused' copy of the Moon rock in post #2. The image seems to have been out of focus with a smear of 7 pixels.
I was able to to through the photos my wife took. She has a better camera on her phone and wasn't having the battery issues I was.

She got a much better picture of the Lunar rock sample than I did
moonnrock2.jpg


She also got a better shot of the interior side of the Columbia hatch. ( mine came out so blurry it wasn't worth keeping).
hatch.jpg
 
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