Delaware Archives to present Flags on the Moon program July 4

Delaware Public Archives will celebrate the Independence Day holiday with a special program titled Flags on the Moon at 1 p.m., Saturday, July 4. Local author and former NASA engineer Jack Clemons will present this program which marks the 46-year anniversary of the moment when Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the lunar surface to become the first human being to set foot on another world. Apollo 11 was the first of six Apollo spacecraft to land on the moon.

From these six missions, a total of 12 men walked on the lunar surface. Beyond the exploration and the scientific experiments they carried out, each Apollo crew planted an American flag at the landing site. The flags are still there, perpetual monuments to the imagination, resourcefulness and determination of the human spirit. As this program will reveal, each of these flags has a story to tell.

Clemons was an industry engineer and team leader on NASA's Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs in Houston, Texas. He later served as a Lockheed Martin executive and led engineering teams that designed air traffic control systems for the United States and the United Kingdom. His nonfiction and short stories have appeared in numerous magazines, books and anthologies.

He has given talks across the Mid-Atlantic region on the Apollo Moon Program, the design and first flights of the NASA Space Shuttle, and the subject of Why Science Matters. He has also appeared in the "Command Module" segment of "Moon Machines," the Discovery Science Channel's award-winning six-part documentary about the Apollo Program. He writes a bi-weekly space and science blog for Amazing Stories online magazine.

The workshop is free to the public and will last approximately one hour. No reservations are required. The Delaware Public Archives is at 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. North in Dover. For more information, contact Tom Summers at 302-744-5047 or thomas.summers@state.de.us.