Way back in the late 60’s, astronaut James Lovell was a household name in his hometown of Milwaukee. He was among the crew of Apollo 8 who were the first to orbit the moon in December of 1968. Milwaukee capitalized on their hometown hero by creating a short lived space museum within the MacArthur Square parking structure. It was dubbed the James A. Lovell Space Center and was administered by the Milwaukee Public Museum.

When funding was dropped in 1969 from the City budget, the space museum couldn’t survive. Objects and displays on loan from NASA were taken away and the lights were turned off on October 26, 1969.