Apollo 11 Capsule, In Nowhere

On July 20th, 1969 Apollo 11 (XI) landed on the moon.  It left Florida on July 16th and was crewed by Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr..

At one point, this drop test capsule for Apollo 11 was housed at a remote, obscure location called Apollo Park out in Lancaster, CA.  The park has three man-made lakes (named after astronauts Aldrin, Armstrong & Collins). I used to visit this park many a weekend back in the 80s, (When/where I took this picture.)

The capsule was called "Boilerplate 19A" (BP-19A), and was built in 1963. 

In 1964, BP-19 was dropped multiple times from a C-133 over El Centro Naval Station, Calif., testing the recovery parachutes. Four years after that, the capsule was retrofitted to test VHF recovery antenna systems, gaining the "A" in its BP-19A designation.

More than four decades after its final test flight it was displayed outdoors at Apollo Park, then in 2008 it was moved to the Downey educational facility.

The actual "Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia"
(Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins) is located at 
National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC"

"https://parks.lacounty.gov/apollo-community-regional-park/"

"http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030612a.html"