Tucson celebrating lunar landing with films, exhibits, Tang cocktails

The Maverick is adding a little moon-walk to its line-dancing for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing this Saturday, July 20.

The east-side country bar, at 6622 E. Tanque Verde Road, plans to go all out, dressing up its main room with inflatable rockets, its employees in astronaut suits and alien costumes, its oversized monitors with vintage, moon-landing news footage.

Patrons are also invited to dress up for space-related prizes. The bar will be serving Blue Moon beer, “Moon Margaritas” and Tang-infused mixed drinks.

Tang was the drink of choice used on several NASA-manned space flights in the 1960s.

Maverick general manager Karen Markovich said the bar is still working out the details on any Tang concoctions.

“I’m sure vodka goes really well with Tang,” she said.

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Apollopalooza runs from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., with drink specials starting at 8 p.m. The cover is $5 after 8.

The band Flipside, a regular at The Maverick, starts at 9 p.m.

“I’m hoping they dress like aliens,” Markovich said.

Other Lunar landing events

• The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway, will screen the 1989 Apollo 11 documentary, “For All Mankind” at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The film, directed by Al Reinert and scored by Brian Eno, looks at NASA’s Apollo program and includes interviews with astronauts and select mission footage. University of Arizona planetary scientist William Boynton will provide an introduction. Tickets are $7.25 with discounts available. loftcinema.org
• The University of Arizona has gone above and beyond with its lunar-landing coverage, with happenings all day Saturday, including events at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, 1629 E. University Blvd; the Flandrau Science Center next door, and a moon exhibit in Special Collections at the University of Arizona Library, 1510 E. University Blvd. The day’s events are part of the university’s monthlong MoonFest. Get a full rundown at flandrau.org/apollo
• The Children’s Museum Tucson, 200 S. Sixth Ave., will have a variety of activities geared toward kids in honor of the Apollo 11 anniversary. Children can make moon craters from Play-Doh, work on space-themed coloring pages and create astronaut helmets out of paper plates. The fun runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The regular $9 admission per person applies. Visit childrensmuseumtucson.org for more information.
• Sky Bar, 536 N. Fourth Ave., will mark one of NASA’s greatest successes by showing a movie about one of its near-disasters, “Apollo 13,” on Sunday, July 21. The 1995 film follows the Apollo 13 crew as they scramble to get back home after an oxygen tank explosion cripples the ship’s service module and scraps plans for a lunar landing in 1970. Tom Hanks plays astronaut Jim Lovell. The late Bill Paxton plays Fred Haise and Kevin Bacon portrays Jack Swigert. The movie starts at 6 p.m. and admission is free.