Comments and anecdotes about the event:
This was a pretty cool event. We had three telescopes available for the patrons for views of Jupiter, Saturn, and the full Moon. We also had activities setup inside the Museum. We had the banner of the Moon setup and we marked the locations of the manned lunar landings with small post notes. The visitors really ate this up. Most visitors were not alive when astronauts went to the Moon. There were many questions about the subject. I had a scale model of the 4" Earth and 1" Moon 10' apart. I explained how the astronauts traveled from the Earth to the Moon in a figure 8 pattern and showed them how much the Moon moved in its orbit around the Earth by the time the astronauts arrived at the Moon. It was also explained why it appears as though they went to the Moon in a figure 8 pattern. This was to conserve rocket fuel during takeoff and would give the astronauts a free return around the Moon if they had to abort the mission as in the case of the Apollo 13 mission. We also made some pocket solar systems with a few visitors. They liked the tubs with the different weights to experience the gravity difference of the Earth and Moon. The 3D images taken with the LRO of some craters of the Moon were a big hit using 3D glasses. What was fun, I went out to check on the telescope operators, and they had some impressive long lines waiting to view Jupiter, Saturn, and the bright full Moon. This was a really fun event.