BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- Lake Erie Nature and Science Center (LENSC) provided a happy place for families to experience some space-oriented activities on July 20 -- the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s landing on the moon.
The planetarium shows were the clear priority, as people filled the 54 seats for each of the five shows. Monica Marshall, astronomy program specialist, hosted the visitors. She is an upbeat, enthusiastic and knowledgeable person who engages audiences easily.
She said she was “the girl with the telescope” growing up and had her own astronomy club. She comes to LENSC with a degree in environmental science.
The children attending learned about the changing shape of the moon during each month when viewed from here on Earth, and how people used the moon to know when to plant and when to harvest before calendars existed.
The presentation included information about the moon, how some robots were sent into space and how humans will go back to the moon. Marshall talked about the next generation of missions, which NASA calls “The Next Giant Leap.”
In 2020, she said, NASA is going to begin to test the Artemus missions, which will be designed to take astronauts back to the moon, with a sustainable lunar presence by 2028 and humans on Mars in the 2030s.
She also included a talk on the first man to put his foot on the moon on July 20, 1969 -- Neil Armstrong. She showed real images from the Apollo 11 mission. At the end, the center’s mechanical star ball projected the universe and explained that all the astronauts utilized star balls to learn constellations at various locations around the country.
Down the hall, a group of tables featured some games and displays. Telescopes used for astronomy nights at the center were displayed, along with some excellent Apollo mission photos.
At one of the tables, Amy Young, a new volunteer at the center, was showing visitors a whole collection of photos, such as those from Apollo 8 and launches of Saturn rockets.
Justin Willard, an education program specialist at LENSC, and Will Triplett, a project wildlife volunteer, were passing out temporary tattoos and drawing attention to some books on space and space travel. Included were books written by Scott Kelly, a former astronaut who is famous for spending a year on the International Space Station.
In the hallway, a life-sized cardboard cutout gave everyone the opportunity to stick their face in and see what they would look like as an astronaut.
Ariel Wandra of Elyria jumped at the opportunity. Perhaps a future astronaut?
For more information on the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center, visit www.lensc.org.
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