3rd Annual Festival of Science a Huge Hit

The Space Foundation Discovery Institute, located on the campus of the Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., hosted its third annual Festival of Science on Oct. 16.

The event was held in conjunction with the Swigert Academy’s monthly family curriculum night and featured hands-on science exhibits and demonstrations from a variety of community organizations.

Elementary and middle school students and their families had the opportunity to get up close and personal with a Madagascar hissing cockroach, build a model rocket, play basketball with a life-size robot and assemble electronic snap circuits to launch a flying disk high into the air. The Space Foundation’s Mars Yard and Robotics Lab was also open for students to experience science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) first-hand by programming robotic rovers to navigate the simulated Martian terrain.

Exhibitors at the free event included:

• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
• Colorado Springs Rocket Society
• Cool Science
• Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center
• Estes Rockets
• Imagination Celebration
• National Weather Service – Pueblo
• Rocky Mountain Robotics
• Shades of Blue
• UCCS-STEM
• USAFA-STEM
• We Want Our Future

To see a photo gallery of the event, click here.