Monument:

Rocket Garden, Kennedy Space Center

Light Art:

22nd Sept 2018 – not public

Switzerland’s contribution to NASA and space science was always strong. The first landing on the moon was on 20th July 1969 with Apollo 11. The first item placed on the moon, even before the US flag, was a flag to measure the solar wind - which was called the “Swiss Flag”. This  experiment originated in Switzerland from the ETH Zurich and the University of Bern. It was the only foreign country experiment on board of this historical US mission for mankind.

Many other items and innovations from Switzerland have been used as well, for example the watches, coffee, food, vitamins, glou, velcro strips and objectives for measuring distance. Three NASA astronauts have Swiss roots: Walter Marty “Wally” Schirra Jr., John Leonard “Jack” Swigert Jr. and Joe Henry Engle.