Record #:

8624

Author(s):

Bittner, Denise

Abstract:

Industrialist John Motley Morehead wanted to do something special and educational for North Carolina children. In 1949, he gave the state the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. At the planetarium, celestial recognition and stellar navigation training was given to all of the American astronauts in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz missions. In 1969, during its installation, Neil Armstrong inaugurated the planetarium's projector, the Zeiss Model VI Projector, which is used for indoor stargazing. In 1974, NASA struck a commemorative medal marking the planetarium's significance in space research. The medal features both the planetarium's building and its Zeiss projector.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 50 Issue 10, Mar 1983, p24, il

Subject(s):

Planetariums--Chapel Hill