Apollo 11 Spacecraft Operator, Dick Hagar at Destination Moon
Dick Hagar – spacecraft engineer, trainer of astronauts and historical witness to both successful and tragic rocket launches – is visiting Cincinnati Museum Center January 10 for a special CMC Members-only event. Join him as he shares his expertise and stories in lectures and gallery talks, including deep first-hand knowledge of the Apollo 11 command module Columbia.
Lecture and gallery talk are included with admission to Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission.
In his 12 years at NASA, Hagar worked on every Apollo launch, from Apollo 1 through 17. His primary role was to train astronauts on the flight systems and computers. He was near the Apollo 1 command module when it burst into flames in January 1967, killing astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. After the fire was extinguished, Hagar was one of the first to the spacecraft and was part of the investigative team searching for the cause of the fire.
In his role, Hagar worked with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, training them on the Apollo command module’s systems. He was one of many who helped make the historic lunar landing possible. And one of the few to make five more landings possible, safely sending 33 Apollo astronauts into space and returning them home.
If you can’t make it to Hagar’s talks, you can still see the Apollo 11 command module Columbia, Aldrin’s iconic gold-visored helmet and gloves and more than a dozen other artifacts flown aboard the historic mission in Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission before it closes February 17.
Friday, January 10
- 7 p.m. – Member presentation (located in Reakirt Auditorium)
- 8 p.m. – Gallery talks (last entry at 9 p.m.)
Click here to check out other opportunities January 11–12.
