Rocket to be projected onto Washington Monument for 50th anniversary of moon landing

A full-size rocket ship will be projected onto the Washington Monument to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.

The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum will project the image of a full-scale, 63-foot Saturn V rocket directly onto the monument next weekend, the museum announced. The projection will cover all 363 feet of the monument.

"The Washington Monument is a symbol of our collective national achievements and what we can and will achieve in the future. It took 400,000 people from across the 50 states to make Apollo a reality. This program celebrates them, and we hope it inspires generations too young to have experienced Apollo firsthand to define their own moonshot,"

Ellen Stofan, Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum director, told DCist.com.

The projection to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's historic moon landing will take place on July 16-18 for each of the three nights.

It is accompanied by the "Apollo 50: Go for the Moon" event that will take place on July 19 and 20, when a 17-minute program will recreate the iconic launch of Apollo 11 and detail the story surrounding the first ever moon landing.

The staging area accommodating roughly 25,000 people to watch the program will be in front of the Smithsonian Castle, according to DCist.com.

A 40-foot-wide recreation of the famous Kennedy Space Center countdown clock will also be included in the event.

Congressional approval was needed to project the image on the Washington Monument, which was given last month and a resolution was signed by President Trump on July 5, the day after his "Salute to America" event on the National Mall.