Families crowd Downey space museum to watch the Artemis II liftoff on the big screen

A hush settled over the audience of 200 people watching the launch of the Artemis II moon mission on the big screen at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey on Wednesday, April 1.

Then, as the Orion spacecraft carrying the four astronauts was safely aloft in the blue Floridian sky, they erupted in cheers and applause.

They were part of an array of watch parties across the nation on Wednesday, space fans seeking a collective experience for a historic mission: the first crewed lunar trek in more than 50 years, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sending four astronauts on a roughly 10-day journey around the moon and back, in preparation for a landing during future Artemis missions.

In Downey, the countown, the launch was a family affair, drawing young and older to a packed watch room.

“People were clapping, taking pictures of the big screen with their cell phones,” said Nadia Gonzalez, museum spokesperson.

NASA jackets, hats and T-shirts flew off the shelves of the gift shop, she said.

“It was nice to see so many families with their little ones.”

The launch went over big for many fans in Southern California, where connections to the mission run deep.

Among the astronauts aboard is Victor Glover, who was born in Pomona, attended Ontario High School and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Serving as pilot of the Orion spacecraft, he is the first person of color to take part in a lunar mission.

Once the spacecraft departs Earth orbit, communications will be handled in part by NASA’s Deep Space Network, which is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Not far down the road from JPL is Dodger Stadium, where the 3:35 p.m. launch from Cape Canaveral was shown on the stadium’s giant screen, entertaining early-bird fans there before the start of the evening game.

City News Service contributed to this report.