Calling Lovers of All Things Lunar

Are you a lover of all things lunar? Here are three hidden gems from the Destination Moon exhibit you won’t want to miss.  

A Lunar Landscape 

Ever wondered how we pictured the Moon before we really knew what it looked like? Look no further than Chesley Bonestell’s mural A Lunar Landscape. Bonestell’s (1888-1986) paintings provided stunning backgrounds for Hollywood films of the 1930s and '40s, including Citizen Kane. However, he remains best known for his profound influence on a generation of space enthusiasts, whose dreams were fueled by his images, including A Lunar Landscape. 

A Lunar Landscape was originally painted for the Boston Museum of Science. On March 28, 1957—six months before Sputnik launched—the Museum of Science in Boston unveiled the work of art on the lobby wall of the Charles Hayden Planetarium. However, images taken by the first lunar probes shortly after revealed that the surface of the Moon was far less harsh and jagged than Bonestell had imagined.  

The Boston Museum of Science officials carefully removed it from the wall in 1970 when it was no longer deemed accurate. They presented the artwork to the National Air and Space Museum six years later, but it wouldn’t be until 2022 that the painting was in good enough condition to be put on display.  

A Lunar Landscape remains a masterful, if outdated, vision from a time when people could only dream of space travel. Learn more about A Lunar Landscape. 

ILC Sewing Machine 

Upon first glance, visitors might pass over the humble sewing machine in Destination Moon—which is featured among massive and impressive technology like a Saturn V engine. But this sewing machine has stories to tell—like helping put the first people on the Moon! 

In 1965, NASA awarded International Latex Company (ILC) in Dover, Delaware, the first Apollo spacesuit contract. ILC, which manufactured gloves, bras, and other support garments, had created its Special Products Division in 1947 to make high-altitude helmets and suits for the U.S. military.

The Singer sewing machine featured in the gallery was among the many that ILC seamstresses used to sew the fabric portions of the Apollo spacesuits. The seamstresses underwent rigorous training and testing. They had to maintain stitch length precision that would challenge the best tailors. They manufactured all the spacesuits worn on the Moon, and without them a lunar landing would ever have been possible. Learn more about the development of spacesuits. 

The First Lunar Telescope 

Has a glint of gold caught your eye? You may be headed in the direction of The Lunar Surface Ultraviolet Camera. This isn’t your average telescope! It was the first astronomical telescope used on another planet. Astronaut John Young operated the camera on the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 mission.   

The telescope in Destination Moon didn’t actually fly to the Moon (that one is still on the lunar surface). The object seen on display is the reconstructed engineering model. But that’s not all there is to know about this small but mighty piece of technology. The engineering model on display holds the original film cassette brought back from the telescope on the Moon!

Both the telescope on display and the one used during the Apollo 16 mission were built by Astronomer George Carruthers at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. Carruthers developed an early interest in astronomy and built his first telescope at age 10. After earning an engineering doctorate from the University of Illinois, he joined the Naval Research Laboratory in 1964—where he designed and built the first Moon-based observatory—the Lunar Surface Ultraviolet Camera.

In the 1980s, Carruthers created the Science & Engineers Apprentice Program, which brings high school students to work with Naval Research Laboratory scientists. He especially tried to reach out to students of color. Learn more about George Carruthers.