Armstrong Air and Space Museum

photo courtesy of Snips92

Even as the Make-A-Wish walk was going on, I'd mentioned the need to turn around and plot the “navi-computer” for Wapakoneta, OH. -- home of the Armstrong Air and Space Museum -- which had invited Great Lakes Base and Ohio Garrison to participate in their "Summer Moon Festival" weekend.

In case you were wondering, Wapakoneta, Neil Armstrong’s birthplace, is a small town in western Ohio along I-75; about 15 miles away from Lima -- the fictional home of the cast of “Glee.”  For the record, we drove past Lima and didn’t hear any high school kids singing. ;)

Maybe it’s because I grew up in Cleveland, where we’ve had NASA Glenn and the visitor center, but as a kid who grew up (in theory) dreaming of being an astronaut, would you believe that I never knew there was a Neil Armstrong museum in Ohio?  As a kid, astronauts like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong were my heroes -- not only because of what they did during early years of NASA, but because (like me) they were from Ohio!

We have LIFTOFF!

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum is AMAZING!  While most people know Armstrong as the first to walk on the moon, the museum is filled with items from his Gemini 8 and Apollo 11 missions. One of the best parts about trooping events like this -- personally -- is the chance to tour around the museum and explore every exhibit and display case, in between posing for pictures and making the day even more fun for the guests.  I’m pretty sure our decision to walk over and watch the model rockets helped draw a few more people over to watch the presentation. The local model rocket group put on a great show!  Some of us took a test flight in a Wright Flyer simulator -- I’ll stick with my Y-Wing, thank you very much! ;)  Later, we watched a movie about Armstrong’s mission in space that included footage and facts that even I’d never heard about.

GLB "Summer Moon Festival" - mission photos

One of the main highlights of this year’s Summer Moon Festival was a visit by NASA astronaut Gregory Johnson.  Unfortunately, we didn’t arrive in time to meet him -- I guess we’ll just have to come back someday!

You can learn more about the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum by visiting: http://www.armstrongmuseum.org/

P.S. - If you're looking for a great place to go eat afterwards... may I suggest "Woody's" -- an Ohio State themed restaurant down the road -- maybe the BEST burger I've ever had!