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Astronaut who visited moon to visit Blacksburg, Roanoke

Virginia Tech, the Lyric Theatre and the Science Museum of Western Virginia will host the Apollo 14 astronaut’s appearances.

Courtesy photo

Edgar Mitchell walked on the moon in February 1971 during the Apollo 14 space mission.

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Edgar Mitchell

Mike Allen | 981-3236

Monday, September 2, 2013

Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell walked on the moon in February 1971.

Later this month, he’ll walk the streets of Southwest Virginia.

On Sept. 20 he will visit Blacksburg to make free appearances at 11 a.m. at the Lyric Theatre and at 1 p.m. at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Life Science Institute . At the Lyric he’ll have autographed books for sale and donate a portion of the proceeds to the Science Museum of Western Virginia.

At 11 a.m. Sept. 21 he’ll give a presentation at the Science Museum in Roanoke and hold a book signing at 1:30 p.m. Paid admission to the museum is required to attend. Reservations are required for the presentation. The museum will showcase a moon rock and a disk of lunar dust on loan from NASA during the time of his visit.

Aside from his public appearances, Mitchell will take part in a special dinner Sept. 20 to kick off the Science Museum’s campaign to raise $575,000 for renovating and upgrading its planetarium. The dinner, titled “To the Moon,” includes a short film and presentation by Mitchell, a chance to get a photograph taken with the 82-year-old astronaut, cocktails and an auction.

Tickets to the dinner are $90. The museum is also offering sponsorships that begin at $1,000. A $5,000 “Moonwalker” sponsorship includes seats for two people to ride with Mitchell on his flight to Roanoke or back to West Palm Beach.

Museum spokesman Michael Hemphill said the deadline for dinner reservations is Friday. For more information call 342-5710 or visit www.smwv.org.

Saturday, September 14, 2013