The main exhibition room features photographs and artifacts from the Apollo astronaut training program near Húsavík in 1965 and 1967.[4] The second exhibition room features the history of Viking exploration. Upstairs is dedicated to the exploration of the polar regions and the races to the north and south poles. The basement details expeditions which travelled underground and beneath the sea.[5]
The Exploration Museum opened its first exhibition in May 2011, detailing the Apollo geology training in Iceland in 1965 and 1967. The exhibition was opened 50 years after US president John F. Kennedy first announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon by the end of 1969. The geology field exercises were intended to develop the astronauts' observational skills in recognizing basic geologic structures. Over 50 photographs from the field training are in the museum's collection.[6] In the words of Phinney, "Iceland was probably the most Moon-like of all the field areas that were visited."[7]
The first expedition to reach the geographic South Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole in December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Photographs from the two expedition and replicas of equipment used by the explorers are among the items on display. Amundsen and his team returned safely to their base. Scott and his four companions died on their return journey.[11][12]
The Explorers Festival is a festival and conference on exploration, art and science, hosted by the museum. The annual four-day event consists of talks by explorers, workshops on storytelling, concerts and art exhibitions.[13] The first edition of the festival took place in 2015, marking the 50th anniversary of the geology training of the Apollo astronaut in Iceland. During the first edition, the family of Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong unveiled a monument about Iceland's role in the Apollo program.[14][15]
