WAPAKONETA, OH (WLIO) - There were an estimate of around 5,000 people at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum for the eclipse this afternoon.
The staff says the first visitors started coming in at 1 a.m., but most of the crowd started setting up around 6 a.m. The Armstrong Air and Space Museum was mentioned in many publications and websites as one of the best places to watch the eclipse. We caught up with some visitors when it was over to get their reaction to seeing the solar eclipse in the hometown of the first man to walk on the moon.
"And then bats were flying at one point, right over there, behind you, and it was very intriguing, like, oh well, there's bats flying," described Wayne Crotts, from Georgia.
"It's just life-changing to see, be able to look at directly at the sun at midday, and all of the extra things around it—the corona, the whole thing—it's fabulous," commented Andrew Watchorn, from Flint, Michigan.
"And to imagine what it was like for primitive people to see that factor, so pretty interesting in what would you think," added Kathleen Watchorn, from Flint, Michigan.
"Yeah, I really liked the solar eclipse; it was like really pretty. Everyone was kind of cheering and stuff and clapping, like I really liked it," said Quinn Miller, from Saline, Michigan.
"Because I think it's so rare, such a rare event, that people are learning so much all at once; they didn't know much about the moon or the sun or how our solar system works and why the solar eclipse formed, so it's great that people are really digging into the science behind everything and the history," said Logan Rex, Armstrong Air and Space Museum.
Rex says many people took time before and after the eclipse to check out their many displays about Armstrong while visiting Wapakoneta.
