NASA Roped in the Crowd at Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

It’s boots and chaps, it’s cowboy hats, and it’s spurs and latigo. It’s also rockets and space stations, and astronauts and spacesuits.

And they call the thing Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo^TM.

This major celebration of agriculture and Western heritage is also the world’s largest livestock show and rodeo, and this year, NASA had a Texas-sized presence at the event.

March 2 was NASA Night at the rodeo, with leaders from the Johnson Space Center’s Office of the Director and Office of STEM Engagement invited to attend as special guests. Center Director Vanessa Wyche and Associate Director for Vision and Strategy Douglas Terrier joined NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Anne McClain to kick off the evening’s rodeo activities with a grand-entry parade. Mann and McClain were also invited to the NRG Park’s arena floor for an introduction to the crowd and an up-close viewing of the calf scramble event. Rodeo fans watched a recorded message from astronauts aboard the International Space Station play on the jumbotron, as well.

March 6 was the rodeo’s Community Day, which drew more than 112,000 people to venues across the NRG Park complex. NASA hosted a large exhibit area in NRG Center, where more than 20,000 rodeo fans visited throughout the day. NASA’s exhibit featured models of Orion and its Launch Abort System, Gateway, the Space Launch System, and the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) sample collector head. Visitors also learned about space food, took photos inside the Mark III spacesuit and with NASA’s inflatable mascot Cosmo, and tried out an Artemis moon boot activity. 

NASA videos played on a loop throughout the day in the exhibit area, the venue’s Cowboy Plaza jumbotron, and outdoor monitors. The videos featured Orion, Gateway, CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), OSIRIS-REx, the Artemis II crew, the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program, and NASA’s newest astronaut class, the Flies.

That evening, the Flies participated in a meet-and-greet with fans in the Cowboy Plaza. The new astronauts were then escorted to NRG Stadium, where they hopped aboard an antique fire truck and rode in the grand entry parade, waving to the crowd of more than 73,000 people. The parade was the astronauts’ first public appearance since their graduation on March 5.

This year’s rodeo marked 25 years of partnership between NASA and Rodeo Houston, which has provided an important source of funding for the agency’s High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) and NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) programs since 1999. These programs give Texas students hands-on experiences that can jumpstart their career paths and foster in-demand skills that can lead to a promising future. HAS offers Texas high school juniors the opportunity to explore the possibilities of a STEM-related major or career. The adventure starts in the fall with an online course and culminates - for students who earn the opportunity - with an on-site summer experience at Johnson.

Thanks to Rodeo Houston, over 17,000 students have participated in HAS, and many have joined the NASA family as interns or full-time employees. The rodeo’s investment in education extends beyond agency programs as well: Since it began in 1932, the organization has committed more than $600 million to Texas youth and their education.

Enjoy more photos from the rodeo below.