RE/MAX Ballunar Liftoff Festival Features NASA Mini-Tour

NASA/Johnson Space Center (Houston), TX –August 18, 2005- On the heels of it’s successful Return to Flight Mission STS-114 of the Space Shuttle Discovery, which re-supplied the International Space Station, NASA is opening it’s doors to the public with a “Mini-Tour” of the facilities as part of this weekend’s RE/MAX Ballunar Liftoff Festival on the grounds of the NASA/Johnson Space Center.

On Saturday, August 27 from 9:00am until 5:00pm, visitors can, at no additional charge beyond the $10 per vehicle Festival entry fee, visit the Space Shuttle and Space Station mock-ups, where the Astronauts train. The tour will also visit several robotic displays, the Apollo-era flight control room, and a stop at the Astromaterials Exhibit.

“The Astromaterials Exhibit is amazing, with lunar rocks, and meteorites from Mars,” said Ginger Gibson, Support Services Specialist at NASA. “We’ll also take visitors to the Space Environment Simulation Lab, which houses two large vacuum chambers, EVA suits & tools (“space suits”), and space food and medical exhibits. From 11:00am until 4:00pm, real Astronauts will be signing autographs at the Experience NASA tent on the Festival grounds.”

NASA’s mini-tour is part of the state’s largest hot air balloon Festivals, and one of the nation’s largest ballooning competitions. Approximately 100 giant balloons engage in mass glows and dusk and mass ascensions at dawn. Daylong entertainment by skydivers in formation, para-gliders & hang-gliders, model rockets and airplanes accompany a children’s midway with rides, games, food, arts & crafts, and entertainment for the entire family.