Paying Tribute to the Ultimate Traveler
August 30, 2012
2 min readBy Lisa TE Sonne
Tomorrow’s full moon offers us a luminous chance to pay tribute to Neil Armstrong, the man who redefined long-distance travel when he became the first person to step foot on the moon in the summer of 1969.
Fittingly, a private funeral service will be held for him that day in Cincinnati, Ohio, his longtime place of residence.
In a statement, his family expressed a wish that the next time you see the moon smiling down at you, to think of Neil and give him a wink.
The Museum of Natural History & Science at the Cincinnati Museum Center is offering us terrestrial travelers a chance to pay tribute to the ultimate traveler with a special exhibit dedicated to the man and the icon (admission is free through Labor Day).
Among the items on display are replicas of the suit Armstrong was wearing when he made his famous moon landing and a real out-of-this-world souvenir from the mission – a moon rock he nicknamed “Bok.”
Apollo astronauts were each allowed to choose a destination for a moon rock, and Armstrong selected the museum, where he once served as chairman of the board, to receive his. He even regaled audiences with his version of the 3.8-billion-year-old rock’s life story.
Those who can’t travel to Ohio to see the Armstrong exhibit can contribute to it.
The museum’s CEO, Douglass W. McDonald, who knew Armstrong personally, is asking folks to send in articles that have been published about Armstrong from around the world so they can be included in the exhibit — or added to the museum’s archives.
If your local newspaper published a tribute to the famous astronaut, please send it to Douglass W. McDonald’s attention at:
Cincinnati Museum Center
1301 Western Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45203
Lisa TE Sonne has chronicled space travel for the Intelligent Travel blog in the past, and now pays tribute to the ultimate traveler, Neil Armstrong, whom she met briefly while helping to launch Space.com.
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