Given it was navy ships that recovered the Apollo crews and spacecraft after splashing down from the moon, it is appropriate that the largest temporary exhibit ever hosted by the Intrepid — a converted aircraft carrier — is themed to the first lunar landings.
The museum, which since 1982 has been docked on the west side of Manhattan, has landed "Apollo: When We Went to the Moon," a sprawling display that "highlights the remarkable history of humanity's voyage beyond our home planet and the extraordinary individuals who made it happen." And though the USS Intrepid was not involved in the Apollo recoveries (it brought home the second orbital crewed Mercury and first piloted Gemini capsules), it has since become a world-class sea, air and space museum and home of NASA's prototype space shuttle orbiter.
"'Apollo' deeply focuses on how humans persevered to get to the moon and space in general," said Kate Good, space curator at the Intrepid Museum, in an interview with collectSPACE.com. "The content has the underlying theme of the space race woven into it, with the feeling of monumental urgency to be first in everything. That intensity and sustained determination spurred the U.S. to continue developing groundbreaking technologies."
