Apollo 40

Sponsored by:

White Sands Test Facility  White
  Sands
  Test
  Facility


AIAA NMSU

Sun Country PGA

Events:

Apollo 8

Apollo 9

Apollo 10

Apollo 11

Apollo 12

Apollo 13

Apollo 14

Apollo 15

Apollo 16

Project Apollo
Destination Moon

The 40th Anniversary of the Apollo program



This series of commemorative rocket launch flights are staged by FLARE, the Fellowship of Las Cruces Area Rocketry Enthusiasts. We will launch scale models of both Historic White Sands rocketships, and Apollo era spacecraft.

Find out about the completed Apollo 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, Apollo 14, and Apollo 15 events.

Apollo 16
Commemoration
NMSU, Las Cruces, NM
March 8–10, 2012
10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Purchase tickets for the special showing of the movie Apollo 13 are sold here.

Our next event is scheduled for March 8-10, 2012. This event will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 16 mission (the eighth of the Apollo missions to fly to the Moon). We are honored to have both Gene Kranz (most noted for the lead Flight Director for the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and the Tiger Team Flight Director for Apollo 13) and Charlie Duke (Apollo 11 Moon Landing Capsule Communication CAPCOM) and the Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot - the 10th person to walk on the Moon).

Gene KranzMr. Kranz was responsible for establishing the Mercury Global Communication Network and was White Team Flight Director for both Gemini and Apollo. He is best known for being the Flight Director for the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the Tiger Team Flight Director for Apollo 13. We highly recommend his book Failure Is Not An Option.

Charlie Duke was Gene Kranz's CAPCOM for the Apollo 11 Moon landing. He was the only person to have direct communication with Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they descend­ed to the lunar surface. Charles DukeAfter Armstrong reported that the Eagle had landed on Tranquility Base, Charlie Duke responded with; "Roger Tranquility we copy you down. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks alot!". You might want to check out the book Moonwalker by Charlie and Dotty Duke.

On Thursday March 8th we welcome the public to two special showings of the movie Apollo 13 at the Allen Theatres Cineport 10 theater, at 4:00 and 7:30 p.m. Our guests will make a special appearance after Apollo 13 the first show and before the second, with a discussion of the Apollo program moderated by Mike Shinabery of the New Mexico Museum of Space History. The cost for this event is $20/person. All proceeds from ticket sales for this event go to Habitat for Humanity on behalf of Gene Kranz and to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation on behalf of Charlie Duke. Tickets for the event are sold here.

On Friday March 9th, the actual Apollo 16 40th Anniversary Commemoration Event will be held at the NMSU Campus. The event will start at 9:30 am at the Aggie Memorial Stadium East Parking Lot with actual launch demonstrations of scale replicas of some historic White Sands Rockets (V-2, Wac Corporal, and Little Joe II) as well as the NASA manned space vehicles (Mercury Redstone, Mercury-Atlas, Thor-Agena, Atlas-Agena, Gemini Titan, Saturn IB, and Space Shuttle), This portion of the event will culminate with a launch reenactment of the Apollo 16 Saturn V Moon rocket launched from a working replica of Launch Complex 39. The rest of the day's activities will be held at the Pan Am Center and will include hands-on and static displays from Spaceport America, the Las Cruces Natural History Museum, White Sands Test Facility, the New Mexico Museum of Space History, the National Solar Observatory, and the Fellowship of Las Cruces Area Rocketry Enthusiasts (FLARE) just to name a few.

The highlight of the day will be presentations by both Charlie Duke and Gene Kranz. The Friday activities are free to the public. Any questions regarding this event can be directed to Dave Kovar (Apollo 40th Anniversary Commemoration Event Director) at (575) 312-2893 or email apollo40th@yahoo.com. The event is being sponsored by FLARE, Allen Theatres Inc., Johnson Space Center White Sands Test Facility, and SEMAA.

The NASA manned Space Programs reached into the 21st century and pulled back a decade to do what was, in fact, impossible to do in the 20th. This is your chance to meet two of the celebrated pioneers of that era.
Gene Kranz Bio at Wikipedia. Charlie Duke Bio at Wikipedia.

Information for download: