We've now entered the Apollo/Saturn V Center, and have passed through the first theater presentation about the space program into the second, which is a reenactment of the final countdown on the Apollo 8 mission. Apollo 8, as suggested by the logo at lower left, was the first Apollo mission to leave Earth orbit and orbit the moon; it was a crucial test of the Apollo mission strategy of launching the lunar module from lunar orbit, rather than from Earth orbit, and its success paved the way for Armstrong and Aldrin to step on the moon's surface in 1969.
Copyright 2011, Garrett Wollman. All rights reserved. Photograph taken 2011-02-26.