
Detroit’s Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans is presenting a bronze statue honoring the crew of Apollo 11, the nation’s first lunar landing mission, to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. to mark the 50th anniversary of the milestone achievement.
The seven-foot-tall statue will depict the late Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, and his crewmates, lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, and command module pilot Michael Collins. The statue’s four-foot-tall concrete base will feature an engraving that honors the Apollo 11 crew and all those who made their historic 1969 spaceflight possible.
“Rocket Mortgage is proud to be a part of this significant milestone honoring these brave pioneers that journeyed to the great unknown and forever reshaped world history,” says Jay Farner, CEO of Quicken Loans. “Like many new technologies launched in our country over the past half-century, the development of Rocket Mortgage took inspiration from the Apollo 11 mission and the entire Apollo program.
“NASA’s accomplishment of putting a man on the moon showed our country and the world that once seemingly ‘impossible’ barriers can be broken and to not settle for anything less than complete success.”
The work will be the focal point of the visitor center’s new Moon Tree Garden, which will be located outside of the Apollo/Saturn V Center, which depicts the story and artifacts from the entire Apollo lunar program including a full-size Saturn V rocket. Moon Tree Garden consists of 12 trees that sprouted from seeds that flew to the moon and back on Apollo 14.
The statue, created by Colorado sculptor George Lundeen, is expected to be installed at the visitor complex this summer and officially introduced during the Apollo 11 anniversary celebration in July.
“We are grateful to Rocket Mortgage for bringing this commemorative statue to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as we prepare to mark one of the most important anniversaries in the history of the United States space program,” says Therrin Protze, COO of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. “The dynamic statue is indeed the perfect tribute to these early pioneers who forever changed the history of space and interplanetary travel.”