Here’s how to celebrate Apollo 11’s 50th anniversary in Tacoma
A “small step” for man turned into a “giant leap” in technology and science, impacting generations.
For the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s descent and man’s first steps onto the moon’s surface, Tacoma will celebrate with talks and free planetarium showings.
Pierce College will celebrate the anniversary at the Science Dome with free hands-on activities, presentations and planetarium shows from noon to 4 p.m. July 20 at the Fort Steilacoom location in Lakewood. The shows will focus on the early history of the space race and Apollo missions 11-17, said Hillary Stephens, director of the Science Dome and professor of physics and astronomy.
“The future is at the moon and beyond the moon, and one of the reasons that it’s so important to go back and look at 50 years ago at what we did is to look toward the future,” Stephens said.
Although Stephens wasn’t alive during the space race, she said it influenced her to pursue a career in astronomy. She hopes to do the same with the celebration — especially for kids.
“I hope that they can see themselves contributing to this in some way or another,” Stephens said. “I hope that we can teach people about the Apollo missions, inspire people to go into the field of science, technology, engineering.”
Stephens said the 50th anniversary is at a perfect time since NASA is beginning a directive to get back to the moon in the next five years.
“We’ve learned so much from technology that has come out of even the first manned missions to the moon and other non-manned missions. We don’t hear about those as much,” Stephens said. “You can’t even predict what we’re going to find in the future and what we’re going to discover.”
Greg Scheiderer runs the Seattle Astronomy website and is a member of the Seattle Astronomical Society as well as the Northwest Science Writers Association. He will speak at Tacoma Public Libraries leading up to and following the 50th anniversary.
Scheiderer will discuss the history of the Apollo 11 moon landing, as well as go through photographs from that day. He will speak at 6:30 p.m. July 17 at the Moore branch, 2:30 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Fern Hill branch, and at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Main Library.
Schiederer grew up during the space race and followed the Apollo missions as they happened. He said he remembers watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.
“You look up at the moon, and it still looks the same, you can’t see the footprints or anything,” Scheiderer said. “It’s just so amazing to think that the moon that’s been up there forever, since we crawled out of the ocean, somebody went there and our country did that — we’re pretty cool.”
OTHER WAYS TO CELEBRATE
▪ NASA will broadcast live July 19 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the newly-restored Apollo missions control room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
▪ The exhibit “A New Moon Rises” will open Aug. 31 at the Washington State Historical Society in Tacoma. It will show 51 landscape images of the moon’s surface.
HOME PROJECTS
Make moon pies from a recipe from MyRecipes.
Cookies
¾ cup (6 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup molasses
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 ¾ cups (about 7 ½ oz) all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup heavy cream
Filling
¾ cup (6 oz) salted butter, softened
2 cups (about 8 ounces) powdered sugar
⅔ cup marshmallow creme
Glaze
3 (4 ounces) semisweet baking bars, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil
Start making the cookies: Beat the butter, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla and egg with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Whisk the flour, graham cracker crumbs, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the mixture to the butter mixture alternately with cream — MyRecipe said to begin and end with the flour mixture. Beat them together on low speed. Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Scoop the dough onto two parchment paper-lined baking sheets, placing cookies about 2 ½ inches apart. Press dough to flatten slightly. Bake for about 13 minutes or until golden and set. According to MyRecpies, “(rotate) pans top rack to bottom rack halfway through baking time.” Cool.
Filling: Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth for about one minute. Reduce speed to low and slowly add powdered sugar. Then, increase the speed to medium-high. Add the marshmallow creme and beat until smooth. Spoon into a gallon plastic bag.
Glaze: Place chocolate in a medium-sized microwaveable bowl, stir in oil. Microwave on high for about 1.5 to 2 minutes stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Let stand for 5 minutes, stir occasionally.
Put it together: Place half the cookies bottom-side up on a wire rack set in a baking sheet. Cut off the corner of the bag with the filling and pipe onto each cookie. Top with remaining cookies bottom-side down, and gently press until the filling meets the edge. Spoon the glaze over each cooking, allowing it to drip down the sides. Chill for about 20 minutes or until set. Keep chilled until ready to serve.
Bottle rockets
These should be done outside.
According to Teach Beside Me, you will need: Corks, small plastic bottles, baking soda, vinegar, small squares of tissue or toilet paper and a funnel.
Pour about an inch of vinegar into the bottom of a bottle. Put a teaspoon of baking soda onto a tissue square and fold it like a package.
Quickly: Drop the tissue into the bottle, put on a cork tight, place the bottle corkside down (so it stands up) and watch the rocket take off.
This story was originally published July 15, 2019 at 5:10 PM.