TAIPEI: It's 40 years since the Apollo 11 moon landing when man first stepped onto the lunar surface. To commemorate the anniversary, an exhibition opened yesterday in Taipei. Posters, film screenings, books and lectures undertake to showcase one of the most historically important moments in human history.

The two-week exhibition, titled "New Era of Discovery", is presented by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in collaboration with Taiwan's "National Central Library" (NCL) to commemorate NASA's manned space missions.

Ovid J L Tzeng, a former education chief who is now a research fellow and academician at Academia Sinica, told guests at the opening ceremony that the exhibition stands as an important educational event.

"This is a retrospective on an extremely important milestone in human history and a look forward to the expectations we have for the future," Tzeng said.

"Everyone should understand the significance and meaning of the moon landing in order to know how and where we should place ourselves in the immense universe," he added.

Launched on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr became the first humans to walk on the moon while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above.

Former US astronaut Marsha Ivins shared her experiences and those of other astronauts in her presentation, "My Journey with NASA Missions".

A veteran of five space flights from 1990-2001, Ivins logged 1,318 hours in space.

Speaking of a NASA plan to return to the moon by 2020, Ivins said: "We have the right plan. What we don't have is the right funding."

Because of growing budget restraints, NASA has revised its internal target date to return astronauts to the moon from 2018 to 2020, according to media reports.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 07/21/2009 page2)