Tourists take last chance to learn about space exploration on last day of Summer Moon Fest

WAPAKONETA, OH (WLIO) - The Summer Moon Festival wrapped up on Sunday, and visitors took one last chance to learn some science and history. 

The Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum had a variety of educational guest speakers and activities all week. The lawn was filled with lots of hands-on fun, like bounce houses, COSI, and model rocket launches. 

The Lima Astronomical Society was also on hand with displays like props to demonstrate the size of the moon, information about stargazing, and several telescopes people could try out and get a look at the surface of the sun. 

"We've had a lot of people stick their eye in there and they look around; they don't see anything, and suddenly they go, 'ooh wow!' and they're excited because they can see stuff they didn't think anybody could see with equipment amateurs can own. You can see surface detail; you can see storms on the sun, you can see prominences on the edge of the sun," said Mark Casazza, a member of the LAS. 

During the festival, thousands of people from across the country and the globe stopped by the museum to learn more about Wapakoneta's favorite son. 

"A lot of people, when they're coming through, they're usually traveling between places, and they decide to finally stop here. Some people don't even know that it's Moon Fest weekend or that it's the anniversary of Apollo 11. Them stumbling upon this, they're always really surprised, and we always try to send them downtown to show them what the festival is like down there. Everyone usually comes back very pleased, and a lot of them do actually come back years later," added Logan Rex, the museum's curator. 

The museum invites the public to join them on August 5th to celebrate Neil Armstrong's birthday.