NASA hosted a range of activities and demonstrations, including a virtual reality chair and Oculus Go trip to the Moon, at the COSI Science Festival, May 1–4, in Columbus, Ohio.

The 2019 COSI Science Festival culminated in an exciting and fun celebration of science. The free event featured dynamic experiments, incredible demonstrations, and engaging hands-on activities hosted by Franklin County’s own science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-focused organizations. The Big Science Celebration provided entertainment and learning opportunities for the whole family.

Festival attendees were able to explore science, flight, and space exploration through NASA’s hands-on, interactive exhibits and activities, including:

• a virtual reality chair, where visitors get a sense of what it might be like to sit on the surface of Jupiter’s frozen water moon Europa while watching a video about NASA’s planetary missions;
• three activities that demonstrate how sound travels through the air, how humans survive at high altitudes, and the altitudes where objects fly;
• an Oculus Go demonstration that takes visitors on a trip from Earth to the Moon, and explore space communication with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite; and
• a model of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and infrared camera, and interactive demonstrations.

NASA is charged to get astronauts to the Moon in the next five years with a landing on the lunar South Pole. When we go to the Moon this time, it will be to stay. And then we’ll take what we learn on the Moon, and go to Mars.

Learn more about NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach at https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/.