Adler Anniversarizes Apollo 11

By Karl Klockars in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 16, 2009 9:25PM

The fact that today marks the anniversary of Apollo 11's liftoff might not have anything to do with Chicago specifically, but the Adler Planetarium will be celebrating the mission and its successful landing on the Moon with a number of events in the next few days. If you're a space dork like a number of Chicagoistas (and if you were watching the shuttle launch on the web yesterday, you know who you are) you might want to check some of these out.

Throughout the month, the Adler celebrates the anniversary with the opening of their new Shoot for the Moon exhibit, as well as showing artifacts from the Apollo 11 mission. Special Apollo 11 posters are being distributed for free and Apollo 11 commemorations before shows take place as well throughout July.

If you can sneak out of work early tomorrow you can catch the 2 p.m. lecture from author and historian Craig Nelson who will be discussing his book Rocket Men in the Adler's Cyberspace Gallery. Then, on Monday (the anniversary of the Moon landing itself) you can get your hands on an actual lunar rock, and put your shoeprint in air-dry clay to take home. Plus: free cake!

But it's not until the 22nd that the most awesome event takes place. If you've ever wanted to bask in the glory of two of the most famous space travelers on the planet, the Adler is hosting a discussion with Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell of Apollo 11 and 13 respectively. They'll be talking about their lives as astronauts and their careers in space starting at 7 p.m. (inquire about moon-hoax conspiracy theories at your own peril).

In addition, the Cernan Earth and Space Center at Triton College features artifacts from the Apollo missions as well, which you can check out when you go to one of their bitchin' Pink Floyd laser light shows. And if you can't make it out to any of these events, you can always check out the new video released by NASA.

Aldrin/flag photo from NASA's Apollo 11 photo gallery.