Halloween display recreates 1966 NASA space launch
This is one of the coolest displays we’ve seen this year, Via Chicago Tribune
When it comes to decorating their front yard for Halloween, Ken and Julie Kovacin’s visions go far beyond the typical jack-o’-lantern.
This year, they went all the way back to the early days of space travel.
While most people may not equate Halloween with NASA, the holiday was the perfect opportunity for the Park Ridge couple to delve into their love of space exploration and recreate the November 1966 launch of the Gemini 12 spaceflight — complete with a model rocket and human-size skeletons in retro shirts, ties and glasses.
“Every year we do a display where we try to involve our skeletons in doing something realistic,” Ken Kovacin explained. “This year, we felt like doing a space theme because my whole family is still doing what we used to do in the 60s: Watching space launches.”
The display at the corner of Western Avenue and Cedar Street in Park Ridge depicts four NASA launch control engineers preparing for the launch of the Gemini 12, a scaled-down, but still very large model of the actual spacecraft, made of cardboard tubes and standing next to the Kovacins’ front porch. When activated, a smoke machine gives the illusion of takeoff.
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