As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of landing the first humans on the moon this week, the Siloam Springs Museum is featuring an exhibit on the Apollo 11 mission.
The items for the exhibit are on loan from Siloam Springs resident Judy Omo, who worked on the Apollo 11 project as a safety department secretary for Grumman Aerospace Corporation in Bethpage, N.Y.
Omo is aware of at least two other people who worked for Grumman at the time who would go on to become Siloam Springs residents. The late Larry Winder worked in the telecommunications department and the late Paul Chmielewski worked in the assembly and testing department, she said.
Apollo 11 launched from Cape Canaveral, also known as Cape Kennedy, on July 16, 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, according to the NASA website, nasa.gov. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the surface of the moon, then on July 24 they safely returned to Earth, the site states.
Highlights of the museum exhibit include coins, stamps, a letter addressed to Omo from the Kennedy Space Center on the morning of the launch and a photograph signed by Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins, according to Amber Black, museum director of programming and media.
The Apollo 11 exhibit is part of a larger 50th anniversary exhibit for the museum, Black said. The museum opened in November 1969 in the waiting room of the Kansas City Southern Train Depot. The museum's anniversary exhibit will be growing over the coming months and will feature items from Siloam Springs' history and the museum's history. The Apollo 11 exhibit will be on display for the duration of the museum anniversary exhibit, she said.
When the museum moved to its current location in 1972, the featured exhibit was Arkansas' piece of the moon rock, brought back by Apollo 11, Black said. Then curator Margaret Schoonover was deputized to provide security for the moon rock, she said.
"It all kind of comes back to Apollo and their anniversary and our anniversary. ... (The Apollo 11 exhibit) is bringing us back to where we started and now that the building is new again, I just think it's interesting," Black said.
At its peak, more than 300,000 people in industry, universities and government worked on the Apollo 11 mission, according NASA website, nasa.gov.
At its Bethpage, N.Y., facility, Grumman Corporation, which is now part of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, designed, assembled, integrated and tested the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle, that landed on the moon, according to the company website, www.northropgrummand.com.
Omo said that Grumman was so large that she never met Chmielewski or Winder while working there and she knew both of them for years in Siloam Springs before the topic came up and she realized they had also worked at the Bethpage facility during the time she was there.
Omo said she cherishes her experience working for the company. She worked in the facility for about 15 months while her husband Gene Omo was deployed overseas with the U.S. Air Force. Her father Herv Girard also worked in the safety department, she said.
"I'm glad that I could have been there to see it, cause you know, you are a secretary... But to me, whatever you were, even your janitors, you were there and it was important," Omo said.
Grumman worked closely with other companies in the same facility, she said. Everyone was working together and focused on the Apollo 11 mission, she said. When the spaceflight was launched, Omo said she went home to watch with her parents on TV.
"It was a very exciting time, I can assure you of that, and to be right in the middle of it, and to be able to really feel a part of it, you know what I mean, it was great," Omo said.
Omo and her husband moved around with his Air Force career until he retired to Siloam Springs in 1974, where they have made their home ever since. In 2017, Omo was named a Pioneer Citizen by the Chamber of Commerce for her contributions to the community.
Omo said she is hopeful the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 and the Siloam Springs Museum exhibit will help young people connect and realize the importance of the accomplishment.
"I hope that young people appreciate it," she said.
General News on 07/17/2019