For most of its history, the Space Coast has drawn crowds that look straight up and wait for a rocket. This weekend, NASA wants people looking up for a different reason. MAX POWER, which NASA calls “America’s newest aerospace expo and air show,” comes to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and on Oct. 30 NASA published the list of key events it has planned for Friday, Nov. 6, through Sunday, Nov. 8.

For pilots and aviation fans in Central Florida, this one is worth paying attention to. It puts an air show, a technology expo and the country’s best-known launch site on the same weekend, and it mixes some of NASA’s newest aircraft with some of the people who will fly its next missions.

Three parks, one weekend

According to NASA’s MAX POWER page, the event is organized as three separate “park experiences,” each with its own ticket. The Air Dot Show park, with parking at Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility, is described as aircraft flyovers and static displays by NASA, the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and more, with gates opening at 9 a.m. and the air show running from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The UP.Summit park is a technology expo featuring aircraft, drones, robots and more. The third park is the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, with exhibits, NASA speakers and behind-the-gates tours.

NASA says the event honors America’s 250th anniversary and celebrates “the past, present, and future of flight and space exploration.” The agency also notes that activities will span Kennedy, including the Apollo Saturn V facility and the Launch and Landing Facility currently leased by Space Florida.

The X-59 comes to the Space Coast

The aircraft that will likely draw the most attention from aviation people is NASA’s X-59, the quiet supersonic research plane at the center of the agency’s Quesst mission. NASA says it will display the X-59 during MAX POWER.

The idea behind the X-59 is to turn a loud sonic boom into a much quieter sonic “thump.” According to NASA’s Quesst mission page, the agency plans to survey how people respond when the X-59 flies overhead and share those reactions with national and international regulators, to help set data-driven noise thresholds for supersonic commercial flight over land.

On Sunday morning, NASA has scheduled an X-59 media gaggle with Laurie Grindle, director of NASA’s Aeronautics Division; Peter Coen, Quesst mission manager at NASA Langley; and Jim “Clue” Less, an X-59 test pilot at NASA Armstrong. NASA’s event page also lists a Saturday talk by Coen with Ron Fehlen, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, titled “The X-59 Takes Flight: How We Got Here and What Comes Next.”

Flyovers with the Administrator in the cockpit

MAX POWER is also the culmination of NASA’s recent Inspiration Tour, which NASA says included numerous flyovers to highlight the agency’s fleet of aircraft. On both Saturday and Sunday, NASA’s schedule lists an 11:58 a.m. F-5 flyover in the Air Dot Show featuring NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, followed by a 1:31 p.m. MiG-29 flyover featuring Isaacman. NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson is scheduled to give opening air show remarks on Saturday.

Pilots who want to hear from NASA’s own aviators can look for “In the Cockpit: Meet the NASA Pilots!” on Sunday afternoon, which NASA lists with Troy “Trasher” Asher, Jim “Clue” Less and Kirt “Skirt” Stallings.

Astronauts and the Moon

The space side of the weekend is just as busy. On Saturday, NASA lists a “Meet the Astronauts” session with its Artemis III crew: NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik (mission commander), ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano (pilot), NASA astronaut Frank Rubio (mission specialist) and NASA astronaut Bob Hines, a backup crew member. On Sunday, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 are scheduled for their own session.

NASA also plans a news conference at 5 p.m. Saturday with its latest update on Moon Base, which the agency describes as humanity’s first outpost for long-term lunar exploration, located near the lunar South Pole. NASA says the news conference will be streamed online. Other sessions on the schedule cover the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s Space Reactors Division and SR-1 Freedom, and how NASA is preparing astronauts to live and work on the Moon.

Why it matters

Air shows usually celebrate aviation’s history. This one tries to put history, current research and future exploration side by side, at America’s spaceport, with the Apollo Saturn V facility part of the event grounds. For a student pilot, an aviation fan or anyone who grew up watching launches from the Florida coast, it is a rare chance to see a one-of-a-kind research airplane, hear from test pilots and meet astronauts in one trip.

NASA notes that all times are subject to change, so anyone planning to go should check the latest schedule on NASA’s MAX POWER page and the MAX POWER app before heading out.

If you are going to MAX POWER, flying in, or part of the show, I’d like to hear from you. Skylord is always looking for aviation stories and people to talk with.

Photo courtesy of NASA/Jordan Cochran

Sources

• NASA, “NASA Releases MAX POWER Key Events for Media, Participants” (Oct. 30, 2026): https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-releases-max-power-key-events-for-media-participants/
• NASA, MAX POWER event page: https://www.nasa.gov/maxpower/
• NASA, Quesst mission page: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/quesst/
• Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, MAX POWER: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/event/max-power/