From 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., join museum Research Curator Dr. Larry Crumpler and other scientists and engineers from the Perseverance Rover team at NASA Headquarters and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. On this day only, these special guests will describe the latest developments and plans for Mars research near NASA’s Roving with Perseverance exhibit, which is on loan at the Museum until June 5.  The list of well-known NASA leaders includes Dr. Michael A. Meyer, who is a lead scientist, and Program Scientist Dr. Mitch Schulte, both with NASA's Mars Exploration Program.

Mars-related hands-on activities, demonstrations, and giveaways (while supplies last) will be available. Walk on Mars without leaving Albuquerque with the Museum’s one-of-a-kind, full-scale Mars surface image.

At 1:00 and 4:00 p.m., visiting and museum scientists will also give special talks in the Planetarium, Powered by META. They will discuss the newest results from the Perseverance Rover mission, which is collecting Martian surface samples that will be brought to Earth during an upcoming NASA mission. Seating is limited, so plan to arrive early.

The festivities continue into the evening with First Fridays! From 5:30 – 8:00 p.m., museum staff and volunteers will be available to help visitors with the Observing with NASA kiosk, which demonstrates how raw pictures of objects in space are enhanced by astronomers to bring out the beautiful details. On this evening only, visitors will also learn how to send their processed images back to the museum for display on the “Visitor’s Hall of Fame” monitor above the kiosk, in exchange for completing a brief survey.

All the special events before 5 p.m. are included with regular Museum or Planetarium show admission, making this a great day to visit!  The evening events include free access to the NASA kiosk and the option to visit the Museum Observatory, weather permitting, with the purchase of a 7 or 8 p.m. First Friday Fractals ticket.