Apollopalooza is a week-long celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the future of human space exploration, held by the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver, Colorado between 17 – 20 July.

Each day will feature a lineup of content punctuated by a mid-day keynote and, with support from NASA, they have some spectacular guests lined up, including Apollo 17 astronaut & moonwalker Sen. Harrison Schmitt, Dr. Amanda Hendrix from the Planetary Science Institute, Daniel Hicks CEO of Spaceport America, Apollo wives Sue Bean and Barbara Cernan, and the Apollo rockstar himself – NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz.

Together with Capt Eugene Cernan (who sadly died in 2017), Senator Harrison H. Schmitt was one of the last two humans to set foot on the moon. He’ll be talking about their amazing Apollo 17 mission to the Taurus-Littrow valley.

“Yeah, all those other guys…” Gene Cernan told me when I met him once in Chicago, “..THEY landed on the flat bits. WE landed in a kilometre deep mountain valley!”

Cernan was absolutely dedicated to the task of enthusing future generations to pick up where he, Schmitt and Command Module pilot, Ron Evans, left off. Harrison Schmitt, as the last living crew member of Apollo 17 continues on that mission…

“When Neil Armstrong uttered those famous words ‘One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind…,’ a generation of young Americans had met the challenge given them by Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower. Since that historic event, much has stayed the same. Constants have been humanity’s hunger for the unknown, for expanding our reach for new homelands and freedoms, and for new understandings of our solar system and universe. Even as geopolitical challenges have grown, so has our sense of adventure and will to go above and beyond,” he says “Apollopalooza is a manifestation of the excitement and critical importance of the new ocean of space opened by the 450,000 men and women of Apollo. I am honored and privileged to be a part of Apollopalooza.”