KSC-2014-3254

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A banner displaying the new name of the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is signed by Apollo astronauts and their families. The banner signing followed a ceremony renaming the refurbished building for Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon. The building's high bay is being used to support the agency's new Orion spacecraft and is the same spaceport facility where the Apollo 11 command/service module and lunar module were prepped for the first lunar landing mission in 1969. The Orion spacecraft is designed to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before, serving as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronauts to deep space and sustain the crew during travel to destinations such as an asteroid or Mars. Orion's first flight will be Exploration Fight Test-1, planned for December 2014. The ceremony was part of NASA's 45th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As the world watched, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, aboard the lunar module Eagle. Meanwhile, crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia. For more, visit http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/nasa-honors-historic-first-moon-landing-eyes-first-mars-mission. Photo credit: NASA/Kevin O'Connell