Join us today at noon as we host special guests from NASA and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum! A panel of space experts will discuss the American space program as it developed under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, including the Apollo missions to the Moon, the decision to develop the Space Shuttle, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz test project. The event is free at the National Archives in Washington, D.CThursday, June 13, at noonWilliam G. McGowan Theater You can also watch this event live on our Ustream channel [www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives]. Presented in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives. While you are at the National Archives don’t miss the special display on The Space Program and President Nixon.  You can see a set of moon tongs used by Apollo astronauts and much more! Photo courtesy of NASA: Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot of the Apollo 16 mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station no. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. Duke is standing at the rim of Plum crater, which is 40 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep. The parked Lunar Roving Vehicle can be seen in the left background.
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Join us today at noon as we host special guests from NASA and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum!

A panel of space experts will discuss the American space program as it developed under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, including the Apollo missions to the Moon, the decision to develop the Space Shuttle, and the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz test project.

The event is free at the National Archives in Washington, D.C
Thursday, June 13, at noon
William G. McGowan Theater

You can also watch this event live on our Ustream channel [www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives].

Presented in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

While you are at the National Archives don’t miss the special display on The Space Program and President Nixon.  You can see a set of moon tongs used by Apollo astronauts and much more!

Photo courtesy of NASA: Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot of the Apollo 16 mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station no. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. Duke is standing at the rim of Plum crater, which is 40 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep. The parked Lunar Roving Vehicle can be seen in the left background.

Countdown to the space program — Apollo 11 Moonwalk Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, walking on the surface of the moon.  Via the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum This week we’re counting down to our Thursday Space Program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.
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Countdown to the space program — Apollo 11 Moonwalk

Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, walking on the surface of the moon. 

Via the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday Space Program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

Countdown to the space program — Dinner with the President Invitation from the White House for an August 13, 1969 dinner honoring the Apollo 11 Astronauts.   -from the Nixon Library This week we’re counting down to our Thursday Lecture happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.
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Countdown to the space program — Dinner with the President

Invitation from the White House for an August 13, 1969 dinner honoring the Apollo 11 Astronauts.  

-from the Nixon Library

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday Lecture happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

Countdown to the space program — Apollo 11 Bootprint via nasa.gov One of the first steps taken on the moon, this is an image of Buzz Aldrin’s bootprint from the Apollo 11 mission. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Photo Credit: NASA This week we’re counting down to our Thursday space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.  
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Countdown to the space program — Apollo 11 Bootprint


via nasa.gov

One of the first steps taken on the moon, this is an image of Buzz Aldrin’s bootprint from the Apollo 11 mission. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Photo Credit: NASA

This week we’re counting down to our Thursday space program happening in partnership with NASA, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Presidential Libraries of the National Archives.

 

Moon Tongs

This Saturday, The National Archives and its Presidential Libraries will be at the National Air and Space Museum’s annual Space Day.  

We’ll be hosting activities including:

  • A Mission Checklist hunt for Apollo-related items at the National Archives and the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
  • A Presidential Pop Quiz on U.S. Presidents and the Space Program.

Want a head start on your Mission Checklist? These Moon Tongs were used by Apollo mission astronauts to collect lunar samples.

The tongs are from the holdings of the Nixon Presidential Library and can be seen for a limited time in the “Nixon and the U.S. Space Program” display at the National Archives in D.C.

Images:
Close-up view of a set of tongs, an Apollo Lunar Hand Tool, being used by Astronaut Charles Conrad Jr., to pick up lunar samples during the Apollo XII mission, November 19, 1969. Photo courtesy of NASA.


President Nixon standing in the Oval Office holding the set of tongs used by astronauts during Moon surface explorations, January 27, 1970.


This set of tongs was used to collect lunar samples from the “Ocean of Storms,” the largest dark spot on the Moon’s surface, during the Apollo XII mission. It was presented to President Nixon by astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr., Richard Gordon, Jr., and Alan Bean.

More on the Presidents and the Space Program from this year’s Centennial Celebrations of Presidents Nixon and Ford

jfklibrary: September 12, 1962 — President John F. Kennedy speaks at Rice University Stadium, Houston, Texas, concerning the nation’s efforts in space exploration. In his speech the President discusses the necessity for the United States to become an international leader in space exploration and famously states, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
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jfklibrary:

September 12, 1962 — President John F. Kennedy speaks at Rice University Stadium, Houston, Texas, concerning the nation’s efforts in space exploration. In his speech the President discusses the necessity for the United States to become an international leader in space exploration and famously states, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

“In Event of Moon Disaster”, July 18, 1969.

White House speechwriter, William Safire, was asked to write a speech that President Nixon would make in case the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the Moon.

It was never delivered, and this speech was quietly tucked away into Nixon’s records. 

From - “American Originals” Treasures from the National Archives

Source: Nixon Library

Source: archives.gov

May 25, 1961

Watch President John F. Kennedy’s deliver his message to Congress on the “urgent national need” to send a man safely to the moon.

Source: jfklibrary.org

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for all mankind.” -Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s words as he made his first step onto the surface of the Moon, July 20, 1969 Image: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon next to the U.S. Flag More: President Nixon’s phone call with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon Happy Leap Day!
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“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for all mankind.”

-Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s words as he made his first step onto the surface of the Moon, July 20, 1969

Image: Buzz Aldrin on the Moon next to the U.S. Flag

More: President Nixon’s phone call with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

Happy Leap Day!

Source: research.archives.gov

lookhigh: NASA - Full Moon Over Washington H/T: WaPo
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lookhigh:

NASA - Full Moon Over Washington

H/T: WaPo