For Immediate Release: April 22, 2009
Further information: Rachel Day (617) 514-1662, rachel.day@jfklfoundation.org
Boston, MA – On May 16, 2009, the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library will unveil a special new exhibit, Moon Shot – JFK and Space Exploration, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing, and President Kennedy’s grand vision that made the achievement possible.
In 1961, President Kennedy challenged the nation to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to earth before the end of the decade. Appealing to the spirit of adventure, to patriotic pride and to the cause of freedom, his words ignited one of the greatest technological mobilizations in U.S. history. Eight years later, on July 20, 1969, two American astronauts landed on the Moon’s surface.
Featuring original documents, photographs, and artifacts from the collections of the Kennedy Presidential Library, the National Archives—Southwest Region, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, and NASA, this exhibit will illustrate the elements of imagination and engineering that combined to achieve the successful Moon landing.
Along with three, never-before-displayed NASA prototype drawings of gear developed for the 1965 Mercury Atlas-9 Mission, some of the items on view will include:
• President Kennedy’s 1-page memo to Vice President Lyndon Johnson on April 20, 1961, posing a question that led directly to the lunar mission;
• Original pages of President Kennedy’s Special Message to Congress on May 25, 1961, in which he first called for a national goal of sending a man to the Moon;
• A model of the Friendship 7 space capsule, manned by astronaut John Glenn when he became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962;
• Selected pages from President Kennedy’s September 12, 1962 speech at Rice University during which he famously announced “We choose to go to the moon;”
• A model of the Saturn 1 rocket, used during briefings to help explain how the rockets worked and later sent to President Kennedy’s son, John Jr.;
• A Mercury space suit.
For more information on JFK and the space race, visit:
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/Space+Program.htm
Moon Shot – JFK and Space Exploration will remain open until spring 2010. The exhibit is made possible with generous support from Raytheon Company. The media sponsors are WCVB-TV 5 and the The Boston Phoenix.
Moon Shot – JFK and Space Exploration is just one of the many exciting and inspiring exhibits visitors will find in the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. The Museum’s 25 multimedia exhibits and period settings from the White House offer an exciting “you are there” experience, and create a stirring account of President Kennedy’s thousand days in office. Beginning with a 17-minute film narrated by President Kennedy, visitors step back into the recreated world of the early 1960s and witness the first televised presidential debate; accompany first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy on her televised tour of the White House; sit in on press conferences with the President; stroll through White House corridors; witness Cabinet meetings during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and observe the president’s televised address from the Oval Office on the Civil Rights crisis.
One of Boston’s most popular destinations for visitors from all nations, the architectural masterpiece designed by I.M. Pei sits on a 10-acre waterfront site on Columbia Point offering panoramic views of Boston’s skyline and Harbor Islands.
General admission to the Museum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library is $12.00. Admission for seniors over the age of 62 and college students with appropriate identification is $10.00, and for children ages 13-17, $9.00. Children ages 12 and under are admitted for free.
The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the exceptions of Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. The Library is located in the Dorchester section of Boston, off Morrissey Boulevard, next to the campus of the University of Massachusetts/Boston. Parking is free. There is free shuttle-service from the JFK/UMass T Stop on the Red Line. The Museum is fully handicapped accessible. For more information, call (866) JFK-1960 or access www.jfklibrary.org on the Internet.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is a presidential library administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization.