Have you ever wondered what it might be like to live on Mars? How will we get there? What challenges will we face along the way? What have we discovered by sending spacecraft before people? Join us in exploring these questions and more through guest speakers from NASA and the University of Minnesota, demonstrations, and hands-on activities at the Bell Museum’s fifth annual Space Fest!

The event kicks off on Friday night with a star party investigating our planetary next-door neighbor. Saturday and Sunday will be packed with activities, including special showings of the newest Bell Museum original production, Mars: The Ultimate Voyage.

Throughout the weekend, enjoy presentations by researchers and special guests (including a former NASA astronaut!)  and space-themed activities throughout the building.

• Get creative by making a mini Mars diorama.
• Try your hand at getting a crew safely to Mars and back with a new board game.
• Connect with University students and faculty whose research helps us go the distance.
• Make a Mars mini Diorama in the Hive classroom
• Check out the premiere of TWO new space-themed episodes of the hit show SciGirls in the Nest classroom

Saturday, February 4

University Researchers and students in the galleries, 10 am–4 pm
Connect with University researchers as you explore the museum galleries! You’ll find them throughout the second floor with hands-on activities, demonstrations, and a wealth of knowledge to share about how we’re going the distance in space.

Observing with NASA, 10 am–4 pm
Have you ever wondered how those amazing NASA images get created? Work with real data from NASA telescopes and satellites in our new Observing With NASA Kiosk in the Launchpad. You can capture your OWN data too!
The Observing With NASA Exhibit and programs were developed by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian with support from NASA’s TEAM II program.

Journey to Mars Activities, 10 am–4 pm
The journey to Mars and back will be filled with challenges for astronauts and scientists to overcome.  At Space Fest, you can help us test new activities while you explore the hazards of deep space travel in a set of interactive activities guided by our educators!

Each day, we’ll feature brief presentations and Q&A with experts on space exploration in Horizon Hall:

A Story of Space Exploration with retired NASA astronaut, 10:30am
Captain Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, USN (retired)
Captain Stefanyshyn-Piper will present scholarship awards to two UMN students (Madelyn Blake and Charles Collinge) on behalf of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. She’ll share stories about her time as a NASA astronaut, and offer insights for the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers.
Following her talk, Captain Stefanyshyn-Piper will be available for a meet-and-greet with Bell visitors.

The Dream of Mars: A History of Imagining Life on Another World, 12pm
Space historian and Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Curator, Matt Shindell
Humans have been imaging voyages to Mars for centuries, since even before astronomers discovered that the planets were other worlds. By looking at the history of imagined journeys to Mars, we can understand how ideas about the red planet reflect people’s beliefs and understandings of themselves, their relationship to their world, and the purpose of the cosmos. From poetic flights to Mars assisted by angels, to science fiction depictions of astronauts and settlers in Mars-bound spaceships, to NASA’s plans to send humans to Mars, this talk will look at the importance of Mars to our history and future.

Cruise Through the Solar System with NASA, 1pm
NASA Goddard Planetary Science Outreach Coordinator and U of M alumna, Staci Tiedeken
Staci will take us on a journey to explore the solar system. We’ll discover exciting missions to places such as our nearest celestial neighbor, the Moon; neighboring planet Mars; and the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, the source of NASA’s first asteroid sample which is aboard a spacecraft making its way back to Earth right now!