The Adler Planetarium's new "Mission Moon" exhibition

In honor of the 45th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 13 mission, the Adler Planetarium, America's first planetarium, is reimagining its "Mission Moon" exhibition. With your help, we intend to create an exciting, interactive, and educational experience for our 500,000 annual visitors—to better tell the story of America’s first steps into space.

Follow the legendary career of Captain James A. Lovell, Jr.,—an astronaut immortalized on film (by Tom Hanks) as the Commander of Apollo 13—from his rocket crazed childhood through his quest for the moon. At every point in our exhibition Capt. Lovell is there—from his rejection from the Mercury Program in the late 1950's—to two Gemini missions in the 1960s, to the successful failure of Apollo 13. Alongside Lovell, we will share the stories of Lovell’s family, NASA’s mission control, and others from around the world, who made the quest to land a man on the Moon possible.

How will Jim Lovell inspire you?

Lovell’s training as a U.S. Navy test pilot—and later as a NASA astronaut—prepared him to solve life-threatening problems using only his wits and whatever materials happened to be nearby. Visitors will be challenged to test their own problem-solving skills by building and launching rockets, playing CAPCOM at Mission Control, and engineering solutions to heroically bring crews of astronauts back to Earth.

A Look Inside Gemini 12

The real Gemini 12 capsule, where Lovell spent nearly four days in orbit with Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin in 1966, has long been a treasured artifact in the exhibition, but the position and placement of the capsule present challenges for some visitors to see inside it. As part of the reimagining the exhibition, the Adler will build a ramp around the capsule’s protective glass case to give visitors of all heights and abilities a glimpse at the realities of living and working in space in the mid-20th century.

Apollo 13 Crisis Room

In a recreation of NASA’s Crisis Room, visitors will take on the role of the engineers who improvised solutions to the Apollo 13’s catastrophic mechanical problems. As they try to piece together their own solutions, visitors will learn how humble objects—such as the cover of a small notebook—were used to save the lives of the astronauts on board. That very notebook, minus the cover, is on display in the gallery.

Apollo 13 Crisis at Home

As NASA engineers raced to find life-saving solutions for Apollo 13’s broken equipment, Capt. Lovell’s family followed the unfolding crisis via a “squawk box” in their home. Visitors will hear snippets of what Marilyn Lovell and her young children heard—urgent communications between the crew of Apollo 13 and Mission Control in Houston. This glimpse into the lives of the Lovell family will remind visitors again that astronauts are ordinary people who become exceptional when they risk their lives to learn something new.