Huntsville will celebrate its singular place in space history with the inaugural Rocket City Space Fest, a nine-day community festival running July 16-24, 2026. The festival is anchored on Apollo Day, July 20, the anniversary of the first human Moon landing, and is designed as the proud complement to the city’s America 250 celebration two weeks earlier.
The idea behind the festival is simple: Huntsville built the astonishing Saturn V rocket that put humans on the Moon, and Rocket City Space Fest is how the city tells that story to the world. The week traces the full arc of the mission, from Lift-Off Day on July 16, the anniversary of the Saturn V launch, through Apollo Day on July 20, to Splashdown Day on July 24.
Year one brings the celebration into the streets, parks and venues of the city through a growing lineup of community events. Plans include a warm-up Space Camp Alumni Reunion Weekend, a Lift-Off Day gathering at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center Biergarten, themed activations across the Mid-City and downtown districts, and a Splashdown Day celebration that honors Apollo-era veterans. The full schedule will be published at rocketcityspacefest.com as events are confirmed.
“The Apollo landing is considered the 20th Century’s greatest achievement, and this city played the central role — building the 25,000 mph Saturn V that took humans to the moon. This city changed history, and we intend to honor it, preserve it and permanently cement that into the fabric of Huntsville’s history,” said Ralph Petroff, festival chair. “And just like the first time, this is not a single company or a government leading the way. It is our community, the people who live here and love this place, choosing to carry the torch forward together. There is no better place on Earth to celebrate Apollo than the city that made it possible.”
As a centerpiece of the celebration, City of Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle will sign a formal Proclamation declaring July 20 “Apollo Day” in Huntsville, officially recognizing the anniversary of the Moon landing and the generations of Huntsville engineers, scientists and workers who made it possible. The Proclamation will also recognize the festival’s founding partners for their role in bringing the inaugural celebration to life.
Those founding partners, the companies and institutions helping build the celebration from the ground up, include: Amentum, Apex Defense, Blue Origin, Boeing, CFD Research Corporation, INTUITIVE Research Corporation, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, National Space Club Huntsville, Octave, SafeSplash Swim School and Swim Labs, Sky Elements Drone Shows, Teledyne Brown Engineering and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Each founding partner either carries a thread of Huntsville’s space story, from the Apollo and Shuttle eras to the Artemis work underway today, or is helping to fuel the community that’s making it happen. As founding partners, they secure recognition across the festival and a first look at how the celebration grows in the years ahead.
Organizers envision Rocket City Space Fest growing into a regional, then national, then global destination, a celebration in the spirit of Austin’s SXSW that positions Huntsville as the place where the world gathers to honor the Apollo landing. The festival is built on four pillars: STEM education and outreach, small business opportunities in the space industry, local community collaboration and a growing portfolio of experiences that celebrate Huntsville and its role in space.
For more information and to view a media kit, visit rocketcityspacefest.com or contact [email protected]
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https://rocketcityspacefest.com/