WAPAKONETA — The childhood home of Neil Armstrong will welcome another famous astronaut to town this summer.
Buzz Aldrin, who joined Armstrong on the historic Apollo 11 moonwalk in 1969, will attend the 2017 Run to the Moon 5K/10K. The event is scheduled for July 22 at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta.
Event coordinator Amy Kentner said she has worked for two years to bring Aldrin to the city.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Wapakoneta, the county and midwest Ohio,” Kentner said.
Like other astronauts who have attended the event in years past, Aldrin will participate in Run to the Moon festivities, and will meet with the public at the museum. Before the race begins, Aldrin will address the runners with a motivational speech.
“We always ask the astronauts to tie in running and motivation into what it was like for them to make that first space journey,” Kentner said. “It’s always inspirational to hear from them.”
After the race, Aldrin will attend a luncheon at Neil Armstrong’s boyhood home. The 87-year-old will meet with Mike Mallory, one of the “frogmen” who aided Armstrong, Aldrin and other astronauts out of the Apollo 11 capsule and onto the USS Hornet. Mallory has attended Run to the Moon in years past.
“For you or I, we only saw and heard about the moon landing, but they were really there,” Kentner said. “So to bring those two together and have them offer their unique perspective, it’s just great we can offer that.
“I am over the moon excited.”
Selected by NASA in 1963, Aldrin developed docking and rendezvous techniques devised for spacecraft in Earth and lunar orbits. He also pioneered underwater training techniques for weightlessness, which are still used today. In 1966, on the Gemini 12 orbital mission, Aldrin performed the world’s first successful spacewalk.
On July 20, 1969, Aldrin and Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk, becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world. An estimated 600 million people watched that historic flight.
Currently, Aldrin is working on his Share Space Foundation, which focuses on education to ignite excitement for space in kids. In August 2015, he launched the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute to promote and develop his vision of a permanent human settlement on the planet Mars.
