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Behind the Scenes Video
We get questions from time to time about our behind-the-scenes activities, everything from storage to scanning, so two of our Panama Canal Museum Collection graduate students created this video to show a typical workday for them. The video was produced in March 2026 by Caroline Davis and Azariah Rodriguez of the University of Florida Museum Studies Program. Caroline and Azariah have been working for the PCMC since mid-Fall 2025 on projects relating to Balboa High School and the annual Ocean-to-Ocean Cayuco Race at the Panama Canal. Their Interns Gone Wild! video shows some of our PCMC storage areas in the Smathers Library Building, as well as views of the students scanning photos, browsing past PCMC Blog posts created by them, and searching the collection. Enjoy!
Behind the scenes video for the Panama Canal Museum Collection by students Azariah Rodriguez and Caroline Davis. You May Also Like
George Stratford Seymour Cockburn
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Looking Back to Apollo in the Age of Artemis: How the Canal Celebrated Apollo 11’s Trip to the Moon
Yesterday NASA launched a crewed mission to the moon for the first time in over 50 years. Their vehicle was the Artemis 2.
The stars were aligned because just this week one of our donors, Karin Long, sent us a series of newspaper issues from the days of the Apollo 11 trip to the moon in 1969. We thought it would be fun to share them with you.
Right: The view of the launch from PCMC’s hometown, Gainesville, Florida.
Artemis 2 vs. Saturn V: The Saturn V rocket which was used in the Apollo 11 mission stood 41 feet taller than the Artemis II, but Artemis 2 has 15% more liftoff thrust (8.8 million pounds).
Karin Long’s donation included the Star & Herald, printed in Panama, and the Panama Edition of the Miami Herald. You can track the day-by-day news and excitement and compare the 1969 8-day mission to the currently scheduled 10-day mission of Artemis 2.
Do you know the Panama Edition of the Miami Herald got its start? If so, please share your knowledge with us.
We also learned through other newspapers already in the collection like the Southern Command News that USAFSO (U.S. Air Forces Southern Command) played a supporting role in the Apollo 11 mission. Howard Air Force Base in the Canal Zone was the staging area for specially trained and equipped HC-130 Hercules aircraft and crews that were standing by to help in any sea search or rescue operations.
Do you have any stories about working with NASA while you were at the Canal that you can share with us?
And of course many Panama Canal publications mention the tropical survival training NASA astronauts went through in the Canal Zone, including the Panama Canal Spillway and the Panama Canal Review. To learn more about that training read our previous blog post: Astronauts in the Zone.
Astronauts Visit Locks – John Glenn leads the way across one of the lock gates at Miraflores Locks during a visit last Friday morning before the astronaut party left the Isthmus after receiving training in tropical survival techniques. Glenn, and a vid camera fan, took numerous pictures at the locks to add to those he had taken during the survival training. The astronauts were accompanied on their tour of the locks by members of the Canal Zone Guide Service. Panama Canal Spillway, June 14, 1963.
A special hello to Artemis 2 Mission Commander Reid Wiseman who passed through the Panama Canal while serving in the U.S. Navy.
Right: Social Media post by Reid Wiseman
Still Image taken from Meet the Artemis 2 Astronauts: Mission Commander Reid Wiseman 
An alligator and some wild horses also showed up near the roadside in Paynes Prairie south of Gainesville to watch your historic launch. Photo taken April 1, 2026. T-minus 10 minutes.
