Moon Landing Exhibit On Display At Cushing Library

The 50th anniversary of humankind’s first steps on the moon is honored at the Cushing Memorial Library & Archives through a small exhibit that is open to the public.

“The Eagle Has Landed,” which will be on display through Aug. 16, explores the concept of the moon throughout history and fiction, as well as the technology and research that made going there a reality. A centerpiece of the exhibit is the final revision of the Apollo 11 flight plan that was used by NASA Mission Control during the historic flight.

The flight plan is signed by Gerald D. Griffin ’56, who donated it to the archives. Griffin was a flight director in Mission Control for Apollo 11, and was the lead flight director for three other lunar landing missions. A graduate of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Griffin is the former director of NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad took Griffin’s Aggie Ring along on his trip to the moon in 1969. Griffin donated the ring in 2018 to the College of Engineering, and it is now on display in the Zachry Engineering Education Complex.

Also featured in the exhibit is an invitation to the Apollo 11 launch, a lunar module by the Grunman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, a NASA pocket reference guide from 1966 and a proposal submitted to NASA by Texas A&M – then known as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas – in 1962 seeking funding for a predoctoral training program in the science and engineering fields related to space technology.

The exhibit was curated by Wendy Mackey, an administrative associate at the library. Mackey said “The Eagle Has Landed” also includes novels from the library’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection, including its oldest item, a 1640 edition of “The Discovery of a New World” by John Wilkins.

The Cushing Memorial Library & Archives, located on the Texas A&M campus, is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Entry is free and open to the public.