Vail Symposium celebrates the 55-year anniversary of the first lunar landing 

In July 1969, the world watched and listened as Charlie Duke, CapCom for Apollo 11, counted down the lunar module and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first touched down on the moon. As Armstrong radioed “Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed” on July 20, Duke replied, “Roger, Tranquility Base (though he says in a 1999 NASA interview that in his excitement he couldn’t get it out so it came out ‘Twangquility.’) We copy you down. We’ve got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. But we’re breathing again.”  

This year marks the 55-year anniversary of the first lunar landing; to celebrate, on Monday, July 8, Vail Symposium, along with 4Eagle Ranch and Neal Groff, are presenting a once-in-a-lifetime program at 4 Eagle Ranch with astronauts Charlie Duke and Doug Wheelock in conversation with Greg Dobbs. Come learn how Charlie Duke, one of four living people today who have walked on the moon, is working with the Artemis astronauts training in the Eagle Valley to build on the Apollo program en route to a return to the moon. An honor guard, visit from the High Altitude Aviation Training School (HAATS), a F-16 flyover and otherworldly snacks like a chili bar, Moon Pies and Mars bars will elevate the experience.

“The heroes of the American space program have a long history in Eagle County that continues today at the HAATS facility,” said Vail Symposium Executive Director James Kenly. “The Vail Symposium is honored to celebrate the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and provide a glimpse at the future of space travel in such a spectacular setting.”

On Apollo 16, Duke became the tenth and youngest person to date to ever walk on the moon. Charlie Duke served in five Apollo lunar missions, including as a member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 10; CAPCOM for Apollo 11; backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 13 (who accidentally exposed Ken Mattingly to measles after being exposed via his 3-year-old son); lunar module pilot on Apollo 16 and backup lunar module pilot on Apollo 17.

Doug Wheelock brings his own extensive NASA experience to training the Artemis astronauts. He has logged 178 days in space, including on the Space Shuttle Discovery, on Russian Soyuz, and as the commander of the International Space Station. He has participated in six spacewalks. In 2011, he returned to active duty with the United States Army in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, returning to NASA to the Orion program. As a dual-rated master army aviator astronaut, he has logged more than 7,000 flight hours in 46 different rotary, fixed-wing aircraft and spacecraft.

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The program will be moderated by Emmy-award-winning journalist Greg Dobbs. Dobbs covered the U.S. space program for HD Net television, anchoring live from Florida for the last six years of the shuttle program. He interviewed every crew member pre-mission and broadcast from the Kennedy Space Center for every launch and most of the landings.