NASA: Fifty Years and Beyond showcased the role that the men and women of NASA have played in broadening the horizons of American science and culture, as well as the role that they will continue to play in helping to shape the future by stirring the public imagination.

The NASA program at the Festival included living presentations, hands-on educational activities, demonstrations of skills, techniques, and knowledge, narrative "oral history" sessions, and exhibits that explored the spirit of innovation, discovery, and service embodied by the agency and its personnel. The Festival program encouraged visitors to participate actively—to ask questions of astronomers, astronauts, astrophysicists, educators, engineers, and other experts: a cross-section of NASA's 18,000 employees and 40,000 contractors and grantees. Visitors came away from the Festival with a better understanding and appreciation of NASA's history and mission through a celebration of the people whose knowledge has made those achievements possible.

Further Reading:
NASA: Fifty Years and Beyond
Essays from the 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Program Book (in pdf format)

Why is NASA at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival?
A program sign (in pdf format)

What are Your Memories of NASA
A program sign (in pdf format)