Wapakoneta moon cheese operation just booming

WAPAKONETA, Ohio -- The Fisher Cheese Co. today added a night shift and went into operation seven days a week because of a heavy demand for its "moon cheese."

"I don't know how we're going to handle the business," said Carl Kaplanoff, director of industrial and public relations for the company, largest employer in this hometown of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong.

"We're getting so many orders our production people are in a quandry on how to step up production," he said.

"We're getting orders for moon cheese from all over the country. We sent Florida 50,000 pounds and they want more."

The company began producing "moon cheese" after astronaut Frank Borman orbited the moon in the Apollo 8 spacecraft last December and said the moon was "made of American cheese."

The cheese is a cheddar, yellow in color. Packing depicts a picture of the moon, a space capsule and an astronaut floating in the air. Words on the label describe the cheese as an "unofficial sample of the moon." The printing and picture are green.