Years and years ago, I went to Kennedy Space Center for a day of tourism, and it’s been one of the most memorable things I’ve done. While I was there, I laid eyes on the command module for Apollo 14 (“Kitty Hawk”), and I had a novel idea to see all the Apollo CMs. A bit of research later, and I narrowed my scope to just the ones that flew as part of Apollo — not test articles, skipping Apollo-Soyuz, and the Skylab CMs. This is my ongoing progress report.

Apollo 7 (No Nickname)

Located in Dallas, TX. No timeline for seeing this one, yet.

Apollo 8 (No Nickname)

In the summer of 2021, I went to Chicago for a long weekend. It was fantastic. I wish I had more to say about it, but it was a whirlwind weekend. At this point, I had kinda forgotten about my idea for a “grand tour of CMs”, but I did note in a conversation that it was the second CM that I had laid eyes on. This one moved me — it’s the first CM that orbited the moon, and was where the Earthrise photo was taken. The scene in HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon always gives me goosebumps:

(insert youtube video here)

Apollo 9 (“Gumdrop”)

San Diego, California. No timeline.

Apollo 10 (“Charlie Brown”)

London, United Kindom. I was originally slated to see this in September of 2023 as part of our Europe trip, but we never made it to the science museum.

Apollo 11 (“Columbia”)

Washington, D.C. No timeline.

Apollo 12 (“Yankee Clipper”)

Pensacola, Florida. No timeline.

Apollo 13 (“Odyssey”)

Hutchinson, Kansas. Slated to see this in November of 2024.

Apollo 14 (“Kitty Hawk”)

Kennedy Space Center, Florida. December of 2006 — I had just left my role at space150, and didn’t feel like canceling my vacation (road trip to Florida). So I didn’t. On our agenda was a side-trek to tour Kennedy Space Center, where I got to see Kitty Hawk in all her glory. This is where I first had the idea of seeing all the Apollo command modules.

Apollo 15 (“Endeavour”)

Dayton, Ohio. No timeline.

Apollo 16 (“Casper”)

Huntsville, Alabama. No timeline.

Apollo 17 (“America”)

Houston, Texas. No timeline.

In Order:

December 2006	Apollo 14
June 2021	Apollo 8