The New Mexico Museum of Space History and the Fellowship of Las Cruces Area Rocket Enthusiasts (FLARE) continue the yearlong commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo program Saturday, November 14, at the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo. The event, which includes the launch of model rockets reflecting the history of White Sands Missile Range and of the Apollo Manned Spaceflight Program, will be highlighted by the special appearance of Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane. Commemorative activities will take place in the parking lot of the museum and will be free to the public.

Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane will be the guest speaker and will also give two special presentations at the Alamogordo Family Recreation Center gym. The City of Alamogordo and the Family Recreation Center partnered with the Museum and FLARE to provide this exciting opportunity. Mullane’s first presentation will be at 11:00 am and the second will be at 2:00 pm at the gym, both are free to the public. Area residents are encouraged to attend the 11:00 am presentation. The afternoon presentation will have limited seating available because a group of over 400 Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA) and Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) students from the Las Cruces/Deming area will be in attendance.
NASA will be on hand for the event. Leslie Williams, Public Affairs Specialist with the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, will be representing NASA. The NASA display will feature models from NASA’s Constellation space program that will be replacing the space shuttle program when the orbiters are retired. Leslie will be at the display and talk about the Orion crew exploration vehicle launch abort tests that will be done at White Sands Missile Range.
Spaceport America, represented by Aaron Prescott, will have a booth at the event. Prescott will update those in attendance on the progress of Spaceport America, the nation’s first purpose built spaceport, which is currently under construction in southern New Mexico.
A special display is on loan for the event from the Franklin High School Marching Band from El Paso, TX. The Band Director is Mr. Bruce Beach. The band performed at the Tournament of Bands recently at NMSU. The theme of their performance was “For All Mankind”. It is a tribute to the Apollo 11 mission and subsequent NASA space adventures. The display consist of a series of seven foot tall, ten foot long panels with NASA photos from the Apollo 11 mission to the NASA Aries rocket constellation and will be located in the upper parking lot of the museum.
Visitors to the event will also be able to get close to the Sun without adding extra sun block. The National Solar Observatory will exhibit an 18-foot inflatable model of the Sun and models of the planets, all part of the 1-to-250-million scale Sunspot Solar System Model. NSO studies the Sun with telescopes in the Sacramento Mountains above Alamogordo and in Tucson and around the world. Dave Dooling, with NSO, will tell visitors what’s up (or right now, “down”) with the solar activity and why we need to know our local star.
Events begin with the “Rockets of White Sands” launch demonstration at 9:00 am, and the “Manned Space Program Space Vehicle” launch demonstration at 9:20 am. Museum of Space History Education Specialist Michael Shinabery will narrate the demonstrations. The demonstration rockets range from 12 inches to forty-five inches in height, with a maximum anticipated altitude of 1,200 feet. Astronaut Mike Mullane will speak at 9:45. A letter from Nancy Conrad, wife of Apollo 12 Astronaut Pete Conrad, will be read as part of the ceremony.
All of the activities taking place in the upper parking lot of the museum are free to the public. All activities are weather permitting; a back-up date is not planned.