The first mission to put a man on the moon came to a celebratory end when on July 24, 1969, Apollo 11's command module Columbia splashed into the Pacific Ocean with astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins safely packed inside. Nearly five decades later, Columbia is undergoing significant conservation efforts for the first time ever. Along with numerous objects that were part of the Apollo 11 mission, it will be traveling the U.S. in four-city tour in the exhibit " Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission."

As the only portion of the famed spacecraft to return to Earth, Columbia is the most important artifact in humanity's space-faring history. The cramped dimensions of the module served as the astronauts' living quarters for a majority of the eight-day mission, and it also withstood the fiery descent through Earth's atmosphere.

"When Apollo 11 landed on the moon and humans first stepped on another celestial body, it changed the way we saw ourselves," said Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution David Skorton at the press conference.

Eric Long / Smithsonian Institution

After splashdown, Columbia became a source of national pride and was almost immediately sent on a two-year, 50-state tour before arriving back in the nation's capital and becoming the featured item at the National Air and Space Museum, opening seven years after Columbia's famous flight. Now, after 40 years, Columbia is getting a much-needed restoration and then finally leaving the building.

All Hail the Heat Shield

Although the project will commence within a few weeks, the Smithsonian staff has already spent months analyzing what needs to be done. The first step was identifying which parts of Columbia would degrade quickest. Malcolm Collum, Engen Conservation Chair at the National Air and Space Museum, says the heat shield needs the most attention.

As the Columbia raced towards Earth at speeds that eclipsed 36,000 feet per second , the heat shield experienced temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit . While it did its job incredibly well and the astronauts survived the fiery ordeal, the heat shield sustained immense charring and burning. "It's literally like a briquette," says Collum, "Once you touch it, it will start to slough off."

"When Apollo 11 landed on the moon and humans first stepped on another celestial body, it changed the way we saw ourselves."

To protect the heat shield from further degradation, Smithsonian conservators needed to know how aerospace manufacturer North American Rockwell and AVCO made the heat shield for NASA. Using a portable FTIR (fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), which determines the organic bonding and compounds within a particular material, the team discovered silica and a phenolic resin component .

"That's really important for us to know," says Lisa Young, object conservator at the National Air and Space Museum, "so we can determine how to stabilize it."

Although the heat shield shouldered most of the wear and tear, Columbia's interior was also showing some age. When the module splashed down, the module's floor filled up with seawater, causing fluoride contamination . In addition, there was a concern ( and there still is ) that potentially harmful space microbes could've hitched a ride to Earth onboard Columbia.

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So, Columbia went through a decontamination and a sterilization process, leaving a residue that might have quickened the pace of degradation of the paint, textiles, and plastics. Both Collum and Young noted that flaking paint and material off-gassing, like Neil Armstrong's gloves and helmet , is something conservators will need to keep an eye on.

Works of Art

Other fascinating Apollo 11 artifacts will also travel across the country with Columbia, including one piece that's never been on public display. In 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos privately financed an expedition that found and recovered Apollo 11's long-lost F-1 rocket engines from the bottom of the ocean. Following their recovery, NASA worked with Bezos in transferring a number of the components to museums across the country . The injector plate from Apollo 11's Saturn V first-stage engine found a home at the National Air and Space Museum.

Saturn V injector plate. Smithsonian Institution

The museum's Senior Curator Michael Neufeld says the injector plate is one of the most critical components because it regulated the kerosene and oxygen entering the engine. If it malfunctioned, it could cause the entire engine to potentially blow-up. The injector plate is still being restored at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas, but Collum was able to get a glimpse.

"They are works of art," says Collum, "They are absolutely beautiful."

Eric Long / Smithsonian Institution

Other space artifacts that will be touring include Buzz Aldrin's iconic visor , a star chart for navigation, and a medical kit containing bandages, sleeping aids, antibiotics and antidiarrheals There is also a survival kit. This was in case of an emergency landing somewhere on Earth and contains a radio beacon, sunglasses, seawater desalter kit, and a machete.

The first stop for "Destination Moon" will be at Space Center Houston where it will be on display until March 2018. Then, it will travel to the St. Louis Science Center , Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, and the Museum of Flight in Seattle before becoming part of a permanent exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum in 2020. Along with these artifacts, there will be an interactive 3D tour created from high-res scans of the Columbia that were taken last spring. This will give a chance for the public to digitally go inside the module that once housed America's greatest space explorers.

Dane Penland / Smithsonian Institution

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