Saturday 29 December 2018

Moon room, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago

Yesterday I ventured over to the South Side of Chicago - one L ride, and a bus - approx. one hour in total. The Museum of Science and Industry was my destination and my mission to see the Moon Room exhibit.

Interesting fact: The museum is located close to Hyde Park which is the area President Barack and Michelle Obama lived when Obama was a state senator.

So before I tell you how much I loved the moon room here are my thoughts on the museum…  It's definitely more of a family (i.e. kids) museum than an adult museum. And I guess I didn't go at the best time being in the middle of school Christmas holidays.  That place was crazier than Ikea in Dublin on a Saturday lol, and if you have ever suffered a Saturday in Ikea you will empathize with me I am sure!

That being said there were lots about it I enjoyed.  I loved the actual real Boeing 727 they have on the 3rd floor.  I really liked seeing a cockpit so close and had a good old look at it.  I especially liked seeing their display of the massive U505 submarine. Naively, I never realized a submarine would be so big.  In size and scale, it brought to mind, the Vasa battleship which I saw a couple of years ago in Sweden.


Vasa - sank in 1628, salvaged in 1961

And finally! The moon room.  Ah the moon room. 

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 Mission, the first manned flight to orbit the moon, the museum had a very cool exhibit.  Making use of the Smart House, a previous exhibit from 2008 to  2015 (more info in the photos below), the moon room is an immaculately curated living room replicating where millions of Americans watched the space mission.






Aluminum Christmas tree with its colour wheel present and functioning (bottom left of the pic)


So there you have it!  The last picture is me looking ecstatic in Mid Century Modern heaven.  I'll be honest, I hadn't known that the room was housed in a house somewhat inspired by the FLW usonian house so it was a win all round.  This exhibition closes early January and as an MCM aficionado I wholeheartedly enjoyed it.







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