NASA’s Marshall Center Work Force, Families to Gather July 20 at U.S. Space & Rocket Center for 40th Anniversary Celebration of Apollo 11

What: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will invite its work force and their families to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville July 20 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Members of the news media are invited to attend.

During the event, all Marshall team members — including civil service employees and retirees and Marshall badged contractors — and their families will receive free admission to the Space & Rocket Center, including the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, the museum and all outdoor rides. Special exhibits and presentations will showcase Marshall’s historic role in spaceflight — from the early days of the American rocket program to the next-generation rockets that soon will carry on NASA’s mission of exploration.

On July 20, 1969, NASA made history when the first humans, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, stepped onto the surface of the moon. The Marshall Center played a critical role then — building the powerful Saturn V rockets that launched American explorers to space and the lunar rovers that carried them across the moon — and continues to do so today.

Who: Some 5,000 members of the Marshall team, past and present, and their families are expected to attend.

When: 1-5 p.m. CDT, July 20

Where: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base, Huntsville

To attend: News media interested in attending the event should contact Angela Storey in the Marshall Center’s Public & Employee Communications Office at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. CDT, Friday, July 17. Parking will be available at the former Chrysler Building at 103 Wynn Dr. across the interstate; shuttles will take visitors to and from the rocket center every 15 minutes during the event.