Lunar module replica lands as local exhibit

Ten volunteers have been working on the half-size model since last fall.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- "The Eagle has landed."
That was the message from Pete Perich -- quoting Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon -- at a ceremony culminating 3,000 volunteer hours and years of planning to make a model of Armstrong's lunar module.
The half-size replica was placed Thursday at the site of the former Warren Airways, next to Trumbull Plaza, where the astronaut took his first airplane ride in July 1936 as a boy.
Perich wants to create a memorial to Armstrong, marking the astronaut's connection to the community. Perich's daughter, the Rev. Linda Perich Carpenter, was standing in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., looking at a display of the landing module when she developed the idea for an exhibit.
In summer 2001, Perich contacted Lisa Goetsch, who is the industrial training coordinator at Trumbull Career and Technical Center's Adult Training Center in Lordstown, and the two started working to create the replica.
Goetsch said that at least 500 people contributed to the efforts, including donations of materials and money.
A team of 10 volunteers, mostly retired ironworkers, welders and die makers from WCI Steel, General Motors and RMI Titanium, worked 12 to 15 hours each week to build the two-ton model that stretches about 13 feet high and 12 feet wide. Work started last fall.
"It became their job," Goetsch said. "I'm going to miss having them around."
How it was hauled
Volunteers used a crane to load the module onto an Air Force trailer in Lordstown and carry it, escorted by city, Lordstown and Warren Township police, to the memorial site.
Other contributors include Jack Gibson Construction of Warren, Paul Bennett for the concrete work, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 573, American Fence Association-Northeast Chapter of Ohio and the American Legion Post 540 of Cortland.
Over the next few weeks, fencing, landscaping and other finishing touches are to be added, and organizers hope to have a formal dedication and unveiling in the fall.
The estimated cost so far is $400,000, most of which has been donated, but donations are still being sought to pay for supplies. Donations may be sent to First Flight Lunar Project, 1968 Dodge St. N.W. 44485.
Perich envisions the completed site as an educational tool and as a destination for school field trips.
He says he's learned a lot from the experience.
"If you ask people to do something, they'll do it, but you have to ask," Perich said.
denise.dick@vindy.com