July 16 will mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 launch. On this occasion, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center has launched 5,000 model rockets, thus setting a new Guinness World Record.
Apollo 11, launched aboard a Saturn V rocket, took off from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida at 1:32 am UTC (9:32 EST). It was the spaceflight that first landed the man on the moon. When Niel Armstrong first stepped on the lunar surface, he had described the event as “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This event was witnessed by audiences all over the world through live TV broadcasts.
Apollo 11 has a special place in human history marking many firsts for mankind. To celebrate this notable event, Space & Rocket Center will attempt to set a world record for most rocket launches at once. The demonstration is backed by big names in the aerospace industry involving Boeing, Lockheed Martin and the United Launch Alliance. Moreover, this launch will be held at the same time as that of Apollo 11 i.e. at 1:32 am UTC.
The previous Guinness World Record for ‘most rocket launches at once’ is of 4,231 model rockets launched at Teylingen College during a European Space Science Convention in the Netherlands last year.
“We in Huntsville especially like to talk about what this city means to NASA, what the city means to the space program. This is another little notch in telling the world ‘We matter’ and this is why we do this kind of stuff. Because when you think about it, 50 years ago today, we actually set out on that journey to put somebody on the surface of something that wasn’t our own planet. Nobody had ever done it before,” Randall Robinson (one of the organizers for the event) told AL.com, contemplating the record.
The live stream for the event can be accessed here.
