Apollo Boilerplate-12 (
BP-12) will not be alone at the new
Columbia Memorial Space Science and Learning Center in Downey, California. Current plans show that when the center opens in 2008, the command module-shaped test capsule will be joined by another, Boilerplate-19 (BP-19), on exhibit in the center's lobby. BP-19 was thought to be under the control of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, according to [URL=http://web.mac.com/jimgerard/AFGAS/pages/apollo/BP-19.html]A Field Guide to American Spacecraft[/URL].
The two spacecraft will be dedicated to the legacy of all who worked at Downey to help America to be the first nation to allow mankind to walk on the Moon.
BP-19 was constructed in Downey, California by North American Aviation and accepted for use by NASA in 1963. It was used in parachute tests at Naval Air Station China Lake and was later configured as a Block II type vehicle. It has been on outside display in a gazebo for many years at the Apollo Park in Lancaster, CA. It is owned by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, which has approved it moving to Downey. It is planned to be moved to its new home late this year.
[i]BP-19. Credit: Rob Godwin, Apogee Books, used with permission[/i]
Thursday, April 12 will mark the groundbreaking of the new Columbia Memorial Space Science and Learning Center in Downey, CA at 4:30 p.m. The public is invited. The address is 12214 Lakewood Blvd., Downey, CA outside Downey Landing Studios.