To the Moon: The American Space Program in the 1960s

Exhibit highlights text from the LBJ Museum & Library website.

From the earliest days of civilization, man has been fascinated with the mysteries and wonder of outer space. The exhibit will cover the ancient world’s study of the celestial bodies, and then showcase the revolutionary works and discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, and Albert Einstein. Visitors will have the rare opportunity to see the original publication of On the Revolutions of Celestial Spheres by Copernicus, the handwritten manuscript of Einstein’s The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity, as well as a working replica of Galileo’s telescope.

The early sections will also explore the emerging literary genre of science fiction, which gained enormous popularity during the mid-nineteenth century. Visitors will enjoy a blast from the past - black and white science fiction films, vintage video posters, and audio from A War of the Worlds. A timeline discussing the history of aviation – from the Wright brothers through the test pilots who broke the sound barrier – will be featured, including the role of aviation in military history. Plans include a special display on Dr. Robert Goddard, the father of American rocketry, including a replica of Goddard’s laboratory. Another highlight is a replica of Chuck Yaeger’s X-1 cockpit that visitors can sit in and experience what it may have been like to break the sound barrier.

The exhibit will then focus on the Johnson era, starting with the launch of the world’s first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957. In a quest to catch up with the Soviets, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson initiated hearings to determine how the U.S. could forge ahead in the “space race,” ultimately culminating in Johnson co-sponsoring legislation creating NASA. Several years later, President Kennedy appointed Vice President Johnson to head the development of the space program. A montage of film and media clippings will illustrate the response of the American public and government to the Soviet launches.

Large displays comparing the Russian and American space capsules will represent the first phase in the quest to reach the moon, Project Mercury. Profiles of the Mercury 7 astronauts and memorabilia from John Glenn’s pivotal flight orbiting Earth (flight helmet, rocket fragment, heat shield from “Friendship 7”) will also feature prominently.

Project Gemini represented the second phase in the “moon quest,” bridging Mercury and Apollo. In this section of the exhibit we plan to include a simulator that reenacts the feel of a real spacewalk. The exhibit will also devote extensive resources to the Apollo Missions – including an array of original memorabilia (flight suits, Mission Control consoles, the Engine Thrust Control Panel – Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, portable life support system) along with vintage photography and film footage. In particular, the Apollo 11 moon mission will be dramatized via a life-like scene of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planting the American flag on the moon.