The US flag was the first to go up on the moon, right? Not quite: the solar wind sail designed and evaluated at the University of Bern's Physics Institute was planted into the soil of the moon by astronaut Buzz Aldrin before the Stars and Stripes.
Under the slogan “Bern in space”, the university invited people to its celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the moon landing. Not about to let this opportunity pass us by, we climbed into our space suits and, commissioned by Expoforum, recreated an authentic rocket launch facility in the form of a cube with a 10 x 10 m surface area. The interior, with loading frames and cutouts for speakers, was darkened using Molton fabric in order to create an interstellar atmosphere. The icing on the cake, in this case our rocket, completed the scene. Fasten your seatbelts for a Richnerstutz vertical takeoff.
Ready for take-off.
