2019/04/07 10:00:00

An Out of This World Experience in Las Cruces

Las Cruces will host the second annual Las Cruces Space Festival on April 7 – 13. This will be an incredible opportunity for youth to learn and get excited about space, and for older generations to celebrate the impact that space has in their daily lives. For all lovers of space and all those with a growing curiosity, the Space Festival will bring education, entertainment and fun for everyone!

ANNUAL FESTIVAL

BILLION YEARS

IN THE MAKING

MOVING AT

MILES PER HOUR

STARGAZING • MOVIES • MISSIONS • EXHIBITIONS • TALKS & MORE

The festival will launch on April 7th with an ‘Open House’ at Spaceport America. The week-long festival includes free events, allowing space enthusiasts to ‘make contact’ with the industry and celebrate the internationally-recognized ‘Yuri’s Night’ on April 12. To view a full schedule of events click on Event Details below.

HOTEL PACKAGES

The Space Festival Stay & Play Package

Rates Starting at $99*

Calling all Astronomy-buffs! There’s no better time to launch your trip to Las Cruces than in April during the Las Cruces Space Festival! Sweeten your stay by staying at one of the below hotels offering the following hotel packages:

Amaro Winery Cruces Sunrise Wine
2 Commemorative Las Cruces Wine Glasses
Coupon for: Popcorn & Sodas for 2 at the historic Rio Grande Theatre
Coupon for: 10% off of appetizers at the Game Sports Bar and Grill I located at 2605 S Espina St.
Coupon for: Free Pretzel at Little Toad Brewery & Distillery

Participating Hotels

Guests can also call the Holiday Inn Express North at 575-522-0700 and ask for the Space Festival Package

*Some restrictions apply, including a 2 night minimum stay.

GALLERY

A look at the 2018 festival

Free Movies Playing at the Rio Grande Theatre

April 9 at 7pm | Apollo 13

Based on the true story of the ill-fated 13th Apollo mission bound for the moon. Astronauts Lovell, Haise and Swigert were scheduled to fly Apollo 14, but are moved up to 13. It’s 1970, and The US has already achieved their lunar landing goal, so there’s little interest in this “routine” flight.. until that is, things go very wrong, and prospects of a safe return fade.

April 10 at 7pm | 2001: A Space Odyssey

“2001” is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on Earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well). Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moon’s surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. Now a race begins between computers (HAL) and human (Bowman) to reach the monolith placers. The winner will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be.

April 11 at 7pm | Contact

Astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway has long been interested in contact to faraway lands, a love fostered in her childhood by her father, Ted Arroway, who passed away when she was nine years old leaving her then orphaned. Her current work in monitoring for extraterrestrial life is based on that love and is in part an homage to her father. Ever since funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) was pulled on her work, which is referred to some, including her NSF superior David Drumlin, as more science fiction than science, Ellie, with a few of her rogue scientist colleagues, have looked for funding from where ever they could get it to continue their work. When Ellie and her colleagues hear chatter originating from the vicinity of the star Vega, Ellie feels vindicated. But that vindication is short lived when others, including politicians, the military, religious leaders and other scientists such as Drumlin, try to take over her work. When the messages received from space are decoded, the project takes on a whole new dimension,

April 13 at Noon | Wall-E

In a distant, but not so unrealistic, future where mankind has abandoned earth because it has become covered with trash from products sold by the powerful multi-national Buy N Large corporation, WALL-E, a garbage collecting robot has been left to clean up the mess. Mesmerized with trinkets of Earth’s history and show tunes, WALL-E is alone on Earth except for a sprightly pet cockroach. One day, EVE, a sleek (and dangerous) reconnaissance robot, is sent to Earth to find proof that life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with EVE. WALL-E rescues EVE from a dust storm and shows her a living plant he found amongst the rubble. Consistent with her “directive”, EVE takes the plant and automatically enters a deactivated state except for a blinking green beacon. WALL-E, doesn’t understand what has happened to his new friend, but, true to his love, he protects her from wind, rain, and lightning, even as she is unresponsive. One day a massive ship comes to reclaim EVE, but WALL-E, out of love or loneliness, hitches a ride on the outside of the ship to rescue EVE. The ship arrives back at a large space cruise ship, which is carrying all of the humans who evacuated Earth 700 years earlier. The people of Earth ride around this space resort on hovering chairs which give them a constant feed of TV and video chatting. They drink all of their meals through a straw out of laziness and/or bone loss, and are all so fat that they can barely move. When the auto-pilot computer, acting on hastily-given instructions sent many centuries before, tries to prevent the people of Earth from returning by stealing the plant, WALL-E, EVE, the portly captain, and a band of broken robots stage a mutiny.

April 13 at 7pm | The Martian

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return.

Keep up with space news in & around Las Cruces

Las Cruces Space Festival