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Author
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Topic: Smithsonian conserving Apollo 11's Columbia
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-19-2016 10:55 AM
   
collectSPACE Smithsonian moving Apollo 11 spacecraft 'Columbia' for conservationDrivers in the Washington, D.C.-area may soon catch sight of one of the United States' most historic spacecraft and not even know it. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum is now organizing to move Columbia, NASA's Apollo 11 command module that flew Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on the first moon landing mission, to the museum's restoration facility at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia. There, the space capsule will undergo a six-month conservation to be ready for its next exhibition.  |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 12-19-2016 11:55 AM
Apologies if I've missed the answer to my question already but what are the plans for displaying Columbia when conservation is finished? Will it be encapsulated once more in that awful "full body" perspex covering or will it be exposed for ease of viewing and photography? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-19-2016 11:58 AM
Columbia will not be re-encapsulated for "Destination Moon," but rather displayed in a glass case. |
OV-105
Member Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 12-19-2016 03:04 PM
Guess this will be the closest an Apollo spacecraft will be to a space shuttle with Discovery in the same building? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-19-2016 03:13 PM
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project command module will be displayed with space shuttle Endeavour in the Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center when it opens at the California Science Center in 2019.(An Apollo boilerplate capsule is displayed with Apollo 11's flotation collar and righting spheres alongside Discovery at the Udvar-Hazy.) |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 12-19-2016 09:04 PM
quote:
Originally posted by OV-105:
Guess this will be the closest an Apollo spacecraft will be to a space shuttle with Discovery in the same building?
Just for clarification... Destination Moon with Columbia will be at the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall in downtown DC, while Discovery is displayed at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy annex at Dulles International Airport. |
pupnik
Member Posts: 114
From: Maryland
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 12-20-2016 06:46 PM
It's a shame they didn't conserve it earlier, there would have been an opportunity to get a photograph of Friendship 7, Gemini 4, Columbia, and Discovery all at once.And I also wouldn't be surprised if the Skylab CM ends up at the Udvar-Hazy center when the Apollo gallery is updated. It was always overshadowed by having the Apollo 11 CM in the same building, it will be much more so if they're in the same gallery. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-21-2016 09:30 AM
Matt Cahill, the lead producer of "Sports Junkies" on CBS Radio, wrote yesterday (Dec. 20) at 8:30 p.m. on Twitter: Didn't expect to see Apollo 11 on 66 just now. That was cool. The National Air and Space Museum confirmed this morning, Columbia is now at the Udvar-Hazy Center. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-21-2016 08:43 PM
From the National Air and Space Museum on Facebook: Last night, we moved the Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia" from our Museum in Washington, DC. You can see it from the overlook to the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar at our Udvar-Hazy Center as we work to prepare it for our upcoming exhibition, "Destination Moon."Image Credit: Anthony Wallace, Supervisory Museum Specialist  |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-27-2016 09:30 AM
From the National Air and Space Museum website: The team got lucky, and although the temperature dropped down to 29 degrees, it was perfect weather for moving a spacecraft. The drive from the Museum in Washington, DC, to Chantilly, Virginia, took approximately an hour with escorts from the National Park Service Police. The team wrapped up the move around 11:45 pm. [Conservator Lisa] Young noted that the command module was tied up and packed so well that "it didn't shift a centimeter" during transit. The module, which can now be seen in the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, will remain wrapped in its packing material for another few days while the object acclimates to its new environment — a process that's common for all objects, Young explained. Then it will undergo extensive documentation and conservation treatment.  |
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