National Maritime Museum celebrates 50 years since NASA’s Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon

To celebrate 50 years since NASA’s Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the moon, the National Maritime Museum presents The Moon, opening on July 19.

Featuring more than 180 objects from national and international museums and private collections, the exhibition presents a cultural and scientific story of our relationship with the moon over time and across civilisations.

The exhibition will explore how humans have used, understood and observed the moon from earth.

Visitors get the chance to relive the momentous events of the space race and the moon landings before discovering the motivations behind 21st century lunar missions.

Objects on display include: Apollo mission artefacts that travelled to the moon, the Snoopy Cap communications carrier worn by astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin during Apollo 11 and the Hasselblad camera equipment that captured some of the most recognisable and iconic images of the 20th century.

Lunar samples collected from NASA’s Apollo missions and the Soviet Union’s Luna programme, will be accompanied by a rare lunar meteorite from the Natural History Museum’s collection.

Historical and contemporary artworks will illustrate how the moon has long inspired artists, acting as a metaphor for the human condition.

The exhibition will explore how new technologies, such as 17th century telescopes, 19th century cameras and remote equipment for space photography and mapping in the 20th century brought increasing understanding of the lunar surface and the moon’s origins.

Melanie Vandenbrouck, curator of The Moon exhibition said: “Every person who has ever lived will have done so under its light, and earth’s neighbour has inspired people’s thoughts, beliefs and endeavours for millennia.

“When a man stepped on its dusty surface 50 years ago, our view of the moon was changed forever.

But did it really?

“This exhibition explores humanity’s timeless, profound relationship with the moon, and asks what it means to us, then and now.”

The Moon is on at the National Maritime Museum from July 19 – January 5, 2020.