Kennedy Space Center will host <a href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2026/08/14/u-s-air-force-thunderbirds-to-perform-over-ksc-during-nasas-max-power-event/91302345007/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>NASA’s large-scale Max Power aerospace expo this weekend, featuring futuristic exhibits, a gathering of hundreds of VIP innovators, and an air show starring the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.
“It’s like a space celebration. As the country celebrates 250 years, NASA has kind of led the charge to celebrate where we first reached for the stars at Kennedy Space Center,” Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex spokesperson Russell Bruhn said.
The two-day Max Power aerospace festival will showcase events at a trio of sites: the KSC Visitor Complex, the UP.Summit technology showcase at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility at KSC, and the Salute to America in Space air show at the northern end of the former shuttle strip.
Kennedy Space Center:NASA announces Max Power event, U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds air show at KSC
Parking areas at the KSC Visitor Complex off Space Commerce Way will accommodate visitors of the popular tourist attraction and the UP.Summit expo. Both will open at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, and Sunday, Nov. 8. UP.Summit attendees will board buses at the visitor complex’s Parking Lot 1 for transport to that event.
To buy admission tickets for all three events and get more information, visit nasa.gov/maxpower. General admission tickets are sold out for the restricted-access air show.
“We spent a lot of time and energy trying to make the weekend coming up extra special for people who are space enthusiasts — or even the common family that hasn’t been out to the visitor complex in a while,” Bruhn said.
UP.Summit to offer high-tech glimpse at the future
Cyrus Sigari, UP.Summit mission commander, said the high-tech event will showcase “the future that we were promised as children.”
“They’re going to see flying cars. eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft). Delivery drones. Humanoid robots,” Sigari said.
Attractions will include a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the upper stage of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, and NASA’s X-59 supersonic research aircraft.
Prior to the UP.Summit public showcase during Max Power, 242 companies, agencies and investors are expected to gather during private VIP sessions from Wednesday, Nov. 4, to Friday, Nov. 6. The event includes 24 space companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Sierra Space and Axiom Space.
The lineup also features 27 aviation and advanced air mobility companies, including Eve Air Mobility. An Embraer spinoff, the company’s U.S. headquarters are located at Melbourne Orlando International Airport. Eve is developing a four-passenger eVTOL.
“There will be robots that are 3D-printing drones out of sheet metal. There will be satellite companies. There will be Formula E race cars. There will be autonomous cars. There will be flying-wing future airliners,” Sigari said.
“There will be pretty much everything you can imagine in terms of the future, when it comes to transportation,” he said.
KSC Visitor Complex to host Max Power activities
The KSC Visitor Complex will offer a $17.76 discount on admission prices and host an array of events, displays and programming Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Dozens of attractions will include Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander, a 16-foot Blue Origin New Glenn rocket replica, “Journey to Mars” fireside chats presented by Intuitive Machines, and Florida Institute of Technology Ortega Observatory personnel.
A space-themed parade Saturday afternoon will feature NASA’s Artemis III astronauts — Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio — as grand marshals along with Chevrolet Corvettes and the Viera High marching band.
Sunday’s afternoon parade also will feature NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, along with the Titusville High marching band.
General admission tickets sold out for air show
The Thunderbirds will headline the Max Power restricted-access air show, which will also feature the NASA Freedom 250 aerial team’s four Northrop F-5 Tiger II fighter jets.
Other aircraft include the U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet Demonstration Team, a huge C-17 Globemaster III, NASA’s F-15D Eagle, an F-104 Starfighter, NASA’s 777-200ER and a Mikoyan MiG-29 piloted by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
Bryan Lilley, the air show organizer, said the geographically isolated KSC location will not be readily visible to the general public outside the spaceport gates. The show’s center point will lie nearly six miles from the western Indian River shoreline and more than seven miles from the KSC Visitor Complex.
“It’d be like watching a professional sporting game from outside the stadium. And the reason we talk about that is just so people understand. Because we don’t want a lot of folks to come out and be disappointed,” Lilley said.
Lilley organized the Salute to America 250 air show on July 4 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. He said this weekend’s NASA show is the nation’s last major semiquincentennial event that he is aware of.
“This event will bring together the best of American air and space innovation, ingenuity and achievement, giving families an opportunity to experience firsthand the people, technologies, and possibilities shaping our nation’s future,” NASA News Chief Cheryl Warner said in an email.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly 321 Launch space newsletter.
Rick Nealeis a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY, where he has covered news since 2004. Contact Neale atRneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X:@RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today:NASA’s Max Power expo to feature tech companies, Air Force Thunderbirds
