Among the monuments and memorials scattered around the nation’s capital, tourists to Washington once again can meet astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in wax figure form.
Madame Tussauds D.C. brought back the original wax figures of Armstrong and Mr. Aldrin in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing on July 20, 1969.
The figures were removed from the display floor two years ago for refurbishment, said Therese Alvich, general manager of the wax museum.
“They were out for a long time. People touched them, but we encourage people to touch them, so they got a little wear and tear on them,” Ms. Alvich said.
Inside the attraction, the scene of the first moon landing is recreated with Mr. Aldrin and Armstrong standing on the lunar surface in their Apollo 11 space suits, minus the helmets so their faces are visible. Audio from the moon landing plays overhead.
“We encourage guests to go up to them, put their arms around them, take photos, make silly faces,” Ms. Alvich said.
The setup sits right next to President John F. Kennedy, who presented the challenge for man to go to the moon in 1961.
The two figures are part of the attraction’s original collection from its opening in 2007, Ms. Alvich said. Since the figures depict Armstrong and Mr. Aldrin as they were in 1969, photos and videos were thoroughly researched to recreate the exact size, shape and every physical detail of the two men. NASA was consulted on the suit design.
“It’s very, very detailed process, it takes about three to six months,” Ms. Alvich said.
To further celebrate the anniversary, Madame Tussauds brought in NASA scientist Jennifer Stern for a videotaped question-and-answer session Wednesday with Ms. Alvich in front of the Armstrong and Aldrin figures.
Ms. Stern works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where she develops technology for Mars exploration. She talked about the legacy of the moon landing, and also NASA’s plans to return to the moon in the mid-2020s and then on to Mars later.
“We will always remember that the U.S. put astronauts on the moon in 1969,” Ms. Stern said. “To this day, nobody else has sent anyone to the moon.”
Most people in the U.S. do not want to return to the moon, according to a survey done by The Associated Press, but Ms. Stern said the moon is a necessary step to Mars.
“Landing on Mars is really hard. Mars has an atmosphere, the moon doesn’t,” said Ms. Stern, who specializes in geochemisty. “We’ve already done it on the moon, so we can build on what we know and develop really quickly.”
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