NASA Max Power Expo Brings Flying Cars, eVTOLs and the Thunderbirds to Kennedy Space Center This Weekend

Kennedy Space Center will host NASA's large-scale Max Power aerospace expo this weekend, featuring futuristic exhibits, a gathering of hundreds of VIP innovators, and an air show starring the US Air Force Thunderbirds. The two-day festival will showcase events at three sites: the KSC Visitor Complex, the UP.Summit technology showcase at Space Florida's Launch and Landing Facility at KSC, and the Salute to America in Space air show at the northern end of the former shuttle strip. Both public venues open at 9 a.m. on Saturday, November 7, and Sunday, November 8.

UP.Summit mission commander Cyrus Sigari described the high-tech event in terms car readers will recognise: visitors are going to see flying cars, eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft), delivery drones and humanoid robots. Attractions will include a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the upper stage of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, and NASA's X-59 supersonic research aircraft. There will also be robots that 3D-print drones out of sheet metal, satellite companies, Formula E race cars, autonomous cars and flying-wing future airliners.

The scale of the industry gathering is substantial. Prior to the public showcase, 242 companies, agencies and investors are expected to gather during private VIP sessions from Wednesday, November 4, to Friday, November 6. The lineup includes 24 space companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke Space, Sierra Space and Axiom Space, and 27 aviation and advanced air mobility companies, including Eve Air Mobility. Eve, an Embraer spinoff whose US headquarters are at Melbourne Orlando International Airport, is developing a four-passenger eVTOL.

Practical notes for anyone planning to go: general admission tickets are sold out for the restricted-access air show, while information and tickets for the other events are available through NASA's Max Power pages, and parking areas at the KSC Visitor Complex off Space Commerce Way will accommodate visitors. For the flying-car world, the weekend matters because it puts eVTOL developers in front of the public alongside rockets and supersonic aircraft, rather than in a trade-show hall alone.