Fredericton celebrates 50th anniversary of Moon landing
Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, when American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to step on a surface other than Earth.
Fredericton is joining people from all over the world to celebrate the achievement, with Science East offering programming focused on the moon.
In addition to their regular exhibits, the science centre in the city's downtown is showing a movie based on Canada's connection to the Apollo missions. There will be a special live stream with Canadian astronauts David Saint-Jacques and Robert Thirsk.
Becky Geneau, the centre's director of programs, said people are still in awe of the moon landing even after 50 years.
"It's amazing to be able to look back at 50 years of space exploration and to know that today, 50 years ago, it was the very first time we ever stepped on the moon," said Geneau. "It was quite a feat."
From Avro to Apollo
The science centre showcased the short film Lander: From Avro to Apollo. It's the story of Canadian engineer Owen Maynard, who worked on the ill-fated Avro Arrow project and the Apollo mission.
Geneau says many people who have seen the movie were surprised to see a Canadian have that much influence on the mission.
"They didn't realize that there was a Canadian connection down there so to learn about our involvement it's been really eye-opening for them," said Geneau.
Joyce Donahue said she was surprised to see a Canadian on screen. "I wasn't aware of everything that was said in that movie so it was really really interesting,"
Her son, Dante Romano, was surprised at what was technically possible half a century ago.
"For a second I thought the video was fake because it was so like, it looked so old," said Romano. "I just couldn't believe that technology advanced so much that it was able to make stuff like that."
Return visit?
NASA has plans to return to the moon as early as 2024.
While Katlyn MacDonald will be a little too young to be on that mission, she does hope to make it to the moon some day.
"It's in outer space, basically," said MacDonald. "We've never really explored that much of it."
