Back in 1969, it was the Apollo 11 crew who flew to the moon in a spaceship. School children watched it on small black-and-white televisions. When U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin stepped foot on the moon, they were the first. Meanwhile, their fellow astronaut Michael Collins circled the moon in their spaceship, named Columbia.
When Armstrong and Aldrin were done with their walk, they left the lunar vehicle on the moon. They returned to the command module, and back to Earth. That part of the spaceship is on view at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. But, if you cannot get to Washington, soon you will be able to see Columbia on your computer or your smartphone. Digital scientists are scanning taking pictures of the inside of the spaceship. They are creating an online model, in three dimensions, or “3D.” By looking at these photographs, you will be able to see outer space, the way the astronauts did.
