HARRIW: NASA has officially confirmed that it’s launching a manned mission to Mars this week. The town of Mars, that is. Representatives of the space agency will be on hand for Mars’ New Year celebration Friday and Saturday. A “blast-off dinner” is Thursday night.
“It’s a great opportunity to celebrate the innovation of small-town America,” said NASA public affairs officer David Steitz. “The future (astronauts) Neil Armstrongs and the future Eileen Collinses of America are out there. If we can get them excited, even through a rural weekend festival in Western Pennsylvania about exploration, that’s awesome.”
The Butler County town of about 1,700 people is best known for its flying saucer replica at Pittsburgh Street and Grand Avenue that draws thousands of visitors each year. The festival will feature NASA exhibits, an alien costume parade and competition, train rides at the Mars Train Station and other activities.
The idea for the festival was born out of conversations last year with the Mars Historical Society, Mayor Gregg Hartung said, with town leaders “playing around with the idea on how to make Mars more of a tourist attraction.”
The society had hosted an annual New Year’s celebration on Jan. 1, but the weather didn’t cooperate all the time and crowds dwindled, so the celebration stopped. Hartung said he told the society that maybe the town and society could work together in the future. Last summer, Hartung said, a society member asked him when the planet Mars’ next New Year was coming up. Because of the longer orbit around the sun, the Mars’ New Year occurs about every two years.
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