NASA to be featured in folklife festival

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency is to be featured during the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage festival next year.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced Thursday it will be only the second federal agency to be featured at festival. Next year's event is set for June 25-July 6 festival on the National Mall. The event annually attracts more than 1 million visitors.

"We are excited that NASA's participation will give people from throughout our country and the world the opportunity to learn from and interact with our engineers, scientists, astronauts and skilled craftspeople," said Robert Hopkins, NASA chief of Strategic Communications. "This will be a tremendous event to showcase NASA's past accomplishments and plans to extend humanity's reach throughout the solar system during our 50th anniversary year."

NASA's presentations are to be tied to its mission goals in aeronautics, space exploration, science and human spaceflight. The program will include live presentations, hands-on educational activities, narrative oral history sessions and demonstrations of the skills, techniques and knowledge of rocket scientists.