Eero Saarinen's swooping 1962 TWA terminal at JFK Airport is about to fill up with flight directors, astronauts and a Star Trek legend as the TWA Hotel hosts Mission: 60s, a three-day celebration of Apollo, aviation and 1960s space culture running Friday, October 23 through Sunday. Organizers say the event is designed to bridge the Apollo and Artemis eras, mixing midcentury nostalgia with the realities of today's push back to the moon.
According to Space.com, which reported on the gathering in an article by Robert Z. Pearlman, the weekend is organized by Luna Replicas, which specializes in vintage space gear, and Space for Humanity, a nonprofit that underwrites spaceflight experiences for non-professional participants. Event promotional materials describe the goal as immersing visitors in the sights, sounds and spirit of the 1960s space age. Space for Humanity itself was founded in Denver in 2017 by space investor Dylan Taylor, and the organization sponsored electrical engineer Katya Echazarreta to fly aboard Blue Origin's NS-21 mission in June 2022 as its first citizen astronaut, according to Dylan Taylor's own account of the program. The nonprofit's Citizen Astronaut Program has drawn more than 10,000 applications from people in 150 countries since launching, per CardRates.com.
A Hotel Built Inside a Jet Age Icon
The venue itself carries plenty of history. The TWA Flight Center headhouse, designed by Saarinen and opened in May 1962, was designated a New York City Landmark in 1994 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 before being reimagined as a hotel in May 2019, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Space.com's report notes the 512-room hotel offers views of both JFK's active runways and the restored flight center, and the building's underground meeting space, rooftop infinity pool and thick noise-canceling guestroom windows round out a property developed by MCR and MORSE Development, as detailed by Archello.
Guests looking for a stiff drink amid the nostalgia can head to the hotel's Connie Cocktail Lounge, tucked inside a fully restored 1958 Lockheed Constellation L-1649A — one of only four left in the world. The TWA Hotel notes the aircraft previously flew cargo routes in Alaska and, at one point, reportedly hauled marijuana before its transformation into a 75-seat lounge. That same airliner will host Saturday's Spacefarer Soiree, which the Space.com report says includes a limited meet-and-greet aboard the plane along with live music from Bonnie Gordon, with attendees encouraged to dress in their finest period clothing.
From Flight Directors to a Star Trek Veteran
The program brings together an unusual mix of eras and disciplines. Apollo flight director Gerry Griffin, Time magazine science editor Jeffrey Kluger, former NASA astronauts Nicole Stott and Ron Garan, Star Trek actor Bob Picardo, and researcher Frank White are all slated to appear, per the original Space.com report. Panel topics running Saturday and Sunday include Apollo mission control and flight operations, women in aerospace, the sights and sounds of Apollo communications from the moon, how science fiction inspires real exploration, and space advocacy.
One panel is built around White's concept of the Overview Effect, which the researcher first named and defined in his 1987 book examining the cognitive shifts astronauts report after seeing Earth from orbit, according to background compiled by NASA. For those who want a taste of that perspective without leaving the ground, aerospace company Uplift Aerospace will host a shared Overview VR experience for up to 50 participants as part of the weekend's programming.
A Field Trip to the World's Fair Rocket Park
Mission: 60s kicks off Friday with a guided tour of the 1964 World's Fair site in Flushing Meadows, now home to the New York Hall of Science. The museum's website states that visitors will learn about the rockets' history and the United States' mission to reach the moon. The outdoor Rocket Park there began life as the two-acre U.S. Space Park during the 1964–1965 World's Fair, a joint NASA and Department of Defense showcase of American space technology, according to collectSPACE. Today the park still holds genuine hardware, including a Mercury-Atlas D rocket, a Gemini-Titan II booster and a Saturn V F-1 engine, the kind that helped power the Apollo moon missions.
Back at JFK, the convention's vendor and artists' hall will run both days, with exhibitors including A-B Emblem, which the company's own history page says manufactured the original NASA meatball logo patch in 1962 and has served as the agency's sole official mission-patch contractor since 1971. The weekend also includes a separately ticketed Celestial Soiree and a rooftop pool party, giving attendees more ways to mingle beyond the core schedule of panels and tours.
Apollo Nostalgia Meets an Active Moon Program
Sunday's keynote turns the focus from the 1960s to NASA's present-day Artemis program, the agency's current effort to return astronauts to the lunar surface following the uncrewed Artemis I test flight completed in December 2022, as Hoodline has reported in earlier coverage of Artemis II, which is scheduled to send four astronauts on a lunar flyby. Pairing that keynote with a weekend built around Apollo-era hardware and personalities gives the convention its stated bridge between the two programs.
Tickets run $150 per person for a full weekend pass, which offers add-ons for VIP access, the galas and Friday's World's Fair excursion, while single-day admission is priced at $85, according to Space.com's reporting on the event. Architecture firm Stonehill Taylor handled interiors at the TWA Hotel.
