The 7th annual Space & Science Festival at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum offers visitors a variety of interactive activities, exhibitions and special guests, including presentations from NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and video game pioneer and space entrepreneur Richard Garriott; an augmented reality experience presented by Microsoft; a free Family Astronomy Night; a free screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on the ship’s flight deck, and much more!

This year’s festival also marks the opening of a new temporary exhibit, Personal Space, located in the Museum’s Space Shuttle Pavilion. Like anyone leaving home for a long trip, astronauts bring along personal possessions to remind them of family, friends and their life back on Earth. This collection of personal objects offers a glimpse into the makings and motivations of eleven different space explorers.

Bonus: With a Smithsonian Museum Day ticket, you can get in for FREE on Saturday!

Highlights of the 2018 Space & Science Festival include:

Thursday, September 20 10am–5pm:
Throughout the day, visitors can enjoy STEM activities with the New York Institute of Technology, build their own rocket ships with 3Dux Design, discover the Exoplanet Exploration Program with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and see interactive displays by the Medgar Evers College CubeSAT nanosatellite lab. Kevin Hussey, JPL,  demonstrates NASA’s free Eyes-On software at the 6ft globe inside the Shuttle Pavilion.
1:15pm-4:15pm: The Giant Leaps Planetarium Show follows the story of space exploration and takes visitors on a journey from the edge of the atmosphere to the edge of the observable universe.
8pm: London-based sampling band Public Service Broadcasting performs their acclaimed album, The Race for Space, in celebration of NASA’s 60th anniversary. The concert takes place in the Museum’s Space Shuttle Pavilion, underneath the Space Shuttle Enterprise, the original NASA orbiter. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $20 for Intrepid Museum members. Purchase in advance.

Friday, September 21 10am–5pm:
Visitors can take a spin in the Space Camp Multi-Axis Trainer, which simulates the feeling of reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, presented by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Guests can experience a Virtual Reality Solar System with the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, enjoy STEM activities with the New York Institute of Technology, build their own rocket ships with 3Dux Design, discover the Exoplanet Exploration Program with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and see interactive displays by the Medgar Evers College CubeSAT nanosatellite lab. Kevin Hussey, JPL, demonstrates NASA’s free Eyes-On software at the 6ft globe inside the Shuttle Pavilion.
6:45pm: Drop by for a FREE Family Astronomy Night with stargazing on the flight deck and a variety of special guests, including science writer Jeff Kluger, author of Apollo 8 and Apollo 13, and NASA astronaut, Sunita Williams. The evening also features Tim Jarvis, environmental explorer and adventurer who recreated Ernest Shackleton’s incredible Trans-Antarctica Expedition, and Andrew Dawson’s performance of Space Panorama, a family-friendly recreation of the Apollo 11 moon landing – using only his hands! And accompanied by dramatic narration and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10.

Saturday, September 22 10am–6pm:
Take a ride on the Space Camp Multi-Axis Trainer presented by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, experience Defying Gravity: Women in Space, a mixed reality experience presented by Microsoft, make your own light-up robot creature with Brooklyn Robot Foundry and learn about the James Webb Space Telescope with the Space Telescope Science Institute. Join the Space Games Federation where you can see how fast you can get into a flight suit and meet an astronaut or athlete, and enjoy an interactive, hands-on demonstration of spacewalking tools and Neutral Bouyancy Lab VR with NASA flight director Allison Bolinger.

Throughout the day, visitors can enjoy STEM activities with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Space.com, the New York Institute of Technology, National Science Foundation, American Society of Civil Engineers, Curious-on-Hudson, Columbia Space Initiative and Sci-Tech Kids, 3Dux Design, Medgar Evers College CubeSAT nanosatellite lab, Jupiter Joe's Sidewalk Astronomy, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Intrepid Museum Educators. Check out the Exoplanet Exploration Program presented by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Talk Like a Satellite, Walk Among Stars presented by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The Kerbal Space Academy will have an interactive gaming booth and livestream broadcast.

Special guests include astrophysicist Andrea Derdzinksi, as well as Kevin Hussey of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who will be demonstrating NASA’s free Eyes-On software on a 6-ft globe beneath the space shuttle Enterprise.

11am -4pm: The Giant Leaps Planetarium Show takes place on the pier.
12pm-5pm: Meet with the Intergalactic Travel Bureau team and create your own extraterrestrial getaway.
12pm-12:30pm: Chandra X-Ray Observatory presentation: the moon is our closest celestial neighbor, and it’s nearly 250,000 miles from Earth. The sun, our closest star, is 93 million miles away. Because of these extreme distances, exploring objects in space is incredibly difficult. But with data from some special observatories, you can walk (virtually) inside a dead star. Find out how!
12:30pm-1:30pm: NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions to the ISS; ranking second for most time in space by a woman. She has accumulated 50 hours and 40 minutes outside ISS, and has completed a triathlon in orbit by using a treadmill, stationary bicycle, and a weightlifting machine to simulate the swimming portion of the race. She talks about these experiences as well as her current assignment working with a group of veteran astronauts training to fly the initial test flights for America’s first commercially built spacecraft the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Dragon.
1:30pm-1:45pm: Experience the remarkable Voyager missions through the movement and music created and performed by Andrew Dawson. This performance brings to life these incredible missions, which were launched in 1977 and are still sending back data today! The performance is in the Space Shuttle Pavilion.
3:30pm-4:30pm: Richard Wiese, president of The Explorers Club, sits down with two celebrated adventurers to discuss their shared passion for exploration - Tim Jarvis, who recreated Ernest Shackleton’s incredible Trans-Antarctica Expedition (1914-1917) and Richard Garriott, who journeyed to the International Space Station as a private astronaut, following in the footsteps of his father, NASA astronaut Owen Garriott.
7pm: Enjoy a FREE screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi on the flight deck! Bring your lawn chairs, picnic baskets and blankets. Doors open at 7pm and the program begins at sunset, weather permitting. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis and space is limited.

Sunday, September 23 10am–6pm: Take a ride on the Space Camp Multi-Axis Trainer presented by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, experience Defying Gravity: Women in Space, a mixed reality experience presented by Microsoft, make your own light-up robot creature with Brooklyn Robot Foundry and learn about the James Webb Space Telescope with the Space Telescope Science Institute. Join the Space Games Federation where you can see how fast you can get into a flight suit and meet an astronaut or athlete, and enjoy an interactive, hands-on demonstration of spacewalking tools and Neutral Bouyancy Lab VR with NASA flight director Allison Bolinger.

Throughout the day, visitors can enjoy STEM activities with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Space.com, the New York Institute of Technology, National Science Foundation, American Society of Civil Engineers, Curious-on-Hudson, Columbia Space Initiative and Sci-Tech Kids, 3Dux Design, Medgar Evers College CubeSAT nanosatellite lab, Jupiter Joe's Sidewalk Astronomy, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and Intrepid Museum Educators. Check out the Exoplanet Exploration Program presented by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Talk Like a Satellite, Walk Among Stars presented by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. The Kerbal Space Academy will have an interactive gaming booth and livestream broadcast.

Special guests include planetary scientists Ellen Crapster-Pregont and Marina Gemma, as well as Kevin Hussey of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who will be demonstrating NASA’s free Eyes-On software on a 6-ft globe beneath the space shuttle Enterprise.

11am -4pm: The Giant Leaps Planetarium Show will take place on the pier.
12pm-1pm: Science Aboard ISS: Head to the Space Shuttle Pavilion for a look at the important scientific discoveries that have come from the innovative research being done aboard the International Space Station, the most unique laboratory on (and off) Earth! NASA and other experts discuss the cutting edge experiments conducted on board the station.
12pm-5pm: Meet with the Intergalactic Travel Bureau team and create your own extraterrestrial getaway.
1pm-2pm: Experts from the Space Telescope Science Institute discuss the James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch next year and revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
2pm-2:15pm: Experience the remarkable Voyager missions through the movement and music created and performed by Andrew Dawson. This performance brings to life these incredible missions, which were launched in 1977 and are still sending back data today! The performance is in the Space Shuttle Pavilion.
2:15pm-3pm: Voyager engineers Sun Matsumato and Todd Barber, join special guest John Casani, Special Assistant to the Director at JPL, and the original Project Manager for the historic Voyager mission. Launched in 1977, Voyager I and II were designed as a 5-year mission to fly by Jupiter and Saturn. Instead, this four-decade ongoing mission is still communicating and sending data; Voyager I is now the farthest spacecraft from Earth and the only one to ever enter interstellar space. Moderated by science writer Jeffrey Kluger, author of Apollo 8 and Apollo 13. Located in the Space Shuttle Pavilion.
3pm-4pm: Citizen astronaut and space entrepreneur Richard Garriott discusses the Falcon Heavy Rocket developed by SpaceX and how its groundbreaking heavy-lift boosters are a fundamental game changer to the future of space exploration.
4pm-5pm: Presentation by the Intergalactic Travel Bureau: Have you considered taking a leisure trip to the edge of space, the moon or perhaps Mars? We are at the dawn of a space tourism revolution, and a holiday in space will one day be within reach. Explore the infinite possibilities of your extraterrestrial getaway with the help of some intergalactic travel agents.