Nassau County Executive Laura Curran at the Cradle of Aviation Museum gala, June 6, honoring 50th anniversary of the first Apollo Moon Landing with Gerry Griffin (Apollo missions flight director), Milt Windler (Apollo flight director, including Apollo 13), Harrison “Jack” Schmitt (Apollo 17), Rusty Schweickart (Apollo 9), Fred Haise (Apollo 13), Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7) and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16).
The gala also paid tribute to the Grumman employees of Bethpage who designed, built and tested the lunar modules between 1961-1972 that successfully landed 12 men on the moon between 1969-1972. Of the six lunar modules that Grumman built, three remain on the moon, and the rest are at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum in DC, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and at the Cradle of Aviation Museum.
The gala was one of the events at the museum taking place throughout the year to mark the anniversary, with the biggest event on July 20 when the lunar landing will be re-created with the descent of one of the museum’s lunar modules.
© Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com
