Smithsonian giving visitors a virtual look inside Apollo 11

WASHINGTON (AP) — They are bits of space graffiti hidden from the public for decades: a crude calendar, scrawled lunar coordinates and markings warning of a locker containing "smelly waste."

Apollo 11 astronauts left those scribbles inside the spacecraft that took them on their historic mission to the moon in 1969, but now the public will get to see them for the first time.

National Air and Space Museum officials presented a preview Thursday of a virtual 3-D model that will allow the public a look inside the car-sized Apollo 11 command module.

The Apollo 11 command module, called "Columbia," has been one of the star attractions at the National Air and Space Museum since its opening in 1976.

Needell, who has overseen study on the command module for almost 20 years, says even he saw new things during the model's creation.