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The sculptures are of the Apollo 11 moon crew — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins — as well as a separate buttery interpretation of Armstrong in his spacesuit by the lunar module, Eagle. There's also a butter cow and calf standing beside the Apollo 11 patch. This took more than 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of butter to create.
"Those who remember the moon landing often recall exactly where they were and how they felt, and the 50th anniversary is the perfect time to pay tribute to this amazing event and share that excitement with a new generation," said Jenny Hubble, senior vice president of communications for the American Dairy Association Mideast, in a statement.
Life-size butter sculptures of the Apollo 11 space crew (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins) are featured in the 2019 annual butter display presented by the American Dairy Association Mideast.
(Image credit: American Dairy Association)
She added that the sculpture pays special tribute to Armstrong, who is originally from Wapakoneta, Ohio. "Ohio also has a special connection to that day, as one of our own took the first-ever steps on the surface of the moon," Hubble said.
The butter display is expected to attract 500,000 fairgoers to the Dairy Products Building, where they can also learn about Ohio's role in the dairy industry. In between gazing at the yellow sculptures of the crew, visitors will have a choice of many dairy foods, including ice cream, milkshakes, cheese sandwiches — and of course, milk.
While the butter connection seems at first to be a stretch, Armstrong did buy a dairy farm in Ohio after leaving NASA in 1971, two years after his epic first steps on the moon, according to a 2012 article in The Independent.
Elizabeth Howell was staff reporter at Space.com between 2022 and 2024 and a regular contributor to Live Science and Space.com between 2012 and 2022. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.
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