nasainthesquare“NASA on the Square,” scheduled for Saturday, June 21, will salute Marshall Space Flight Center’s past successes and highlight its current and future work aimed at sending humans to Mars and beyond. Sponsored by Downtown Huntsville Inc., the free event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It’s going to be a daylong celebration to help the community understand the amazing things Marshall Space Flight Center is working on at this very moment including the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket in human history,” Downtown Huntsville Inc. CEO Chad Emerson told AL.com Tuesday.

Emerson said holding a public open house at Marshall is difficult because of its location behind the Redstone Arsenal gates. But Marshall and NASA leaders jumped at the chance to explain their missions and programs on the Courthouse Square, which will be closed to traffic for the event. A number of NASA contractors will also be on hand, said Emerson.

While the exact schedule is still being ironed out, he said there will be space-themed sidewalk art contests for kids, opportunities to chat with rocket scientists and astronauts, and displays where people can learn all about the Space Launch System deep-space rocket being developed in Huntsville. It is scheduled for a maiden test flight in 2017.

“Everything that day is going to be tied to Marshall and NASA in some way,” said Emerson. “Even the live music will be from musicians who either work or worked at Marshall. We’re really anticipating a great crowd.”

Organizers are working with downtown bars and restaurants to create special space-themed food and drinks for the day. The Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Space & Rocket Center and Huntsville-Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau are helping sponsor the event.

[Original article here]