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Art meets up with aerospace again at the upcoming Spark STEM Fest at Orlando Science Center. Covering both disciplines will be appearances by Nicole Stott, former astronaut and outer-space watercolorist.

“You think an astronaut, you think technical, you think a scientist,” Stott said. “And yet, the majority of these people that I’ve encountered in my life also have something artsy or creative going on, really, too, and we want to share that.”

Spark STEM Fest celebrates technology and innovation with hands-on experiences, live science shows and interaction with engineers, researchers and other professionals. The event runs Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the science center.

Stott’s astronaut career included 104 days in space as a crew member on the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Discovery. She also had an artistic, anti-gravity experience with watercolors on board in 2009.

“It was bizarre to see this floating ball of water that just was attracted to the brush, and then pulling the colored water off the palette,” she said. “I had to figure out how far do I pull the brush off the paper so that I can drag the floating ball of colored water along the paper to paint?” read more

It’s been quite a while since a mustache has made its way to space. Rookie NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway is about to change that.

Acting as pilot on this week’s planned launch of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station, active Navy commander was clean shaven when introduced as an astronaut candidate in 2021. But now he’s got what he calls a classic naval aviator mustache going on.

“The mustache is a lot of fun. The crew has enjoyed it,” he said Sunday during an interview from quarantine at Kennedy Space Center. “We’ve had a bunch of laughs about it. Some of out support staff, particularly our flight surgeons, have grown mustaches as well, in support and solidarity of my mustache.”

NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, Crew-12 pilot, arrives Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, at the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. (Kim Shiflett/NASA) Crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, from left to right, Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, participate in a news conference from Astronaut Crew Quarters inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (Kim Shiflett/NASA) The SpaceX Crew-12 crewmates, from left, Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, NASA astronaut and pilot Jack Hathaway, NASA astronaut and commander Jessica Meir and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, performed a launch day rehearsal at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 ahead of the planned launch aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom later in the week. (Courtesy/SpaceX)