By Michael Seeley | We Report Space | Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026
The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the U.S. Navy's F/A-18F Super Hornet "Rhino" Demonstration Team flew practice routines over Kennedy Space Center's former Shuttle Landing Facility ahead of MAX POWER, NASA's new aerospace expo and air show, which opens to the public today and runs through Sunday. On Friday evening, President Donald Trump came to the center and used the occasion to announce Capeweek, a planned annual international aerospace exhibition on the same runway, beginning in 2028.
What MAX POWER is
NASA announced MAX POWER on Aug. 14 as a public exposition of American air and space innovation tied to the nation's 250th anniversary. The agency is producing it with outside partners: Air Dot Show, UP.Summit, Space Florida, Delaware North, and Purpose Entertainment. Because the event is funded through those partners rather than NASA's appropriated budget, tickets are sold through their sites.
The weekend is split into three separately ticketed "parks," connected by shuttle buses:
Air Dot Show, the flying program, staged from the Launch and Landing Facility, the former Shuttle Landing Facility now leased to Space Florida. Its 15,000-foot runway was built to bring orbiters home. Gates open at 9 a.m.; flying runs from 1 to 4:30 p.m. both days.
UP.Summit, a technology showcase of aircraft, drones, robots, autonomous vehicles, and space hardware. NASA is displaying its X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft, and partners are showing Moon rovers and spacecraft.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, with exhibits, NASA speakers, and behind-the-gates bus tours to the Vehicle Assembly Building, the Apollo Saturn V Center, and the Gantry. The Visitor Complex is also running a daily parade with astronauts riding in Corvettes, backed by a marching band.
This is only the fourth public air show held on Kennedy Space Center property. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in August that he hoped MAX POWER "becomes the first of many." The Space Coast Office of Tourism has estimated the weekend could draw more than 50,000 visitors from outside Brevard County.
In the air: the Thunderbirds
The Thunderbirds are the Air Force's official air demonstration squadron, based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and flying the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The team was the first act NASA named when it announced the event, and it closes the flying program both days.
In the air: the Rhino Demo
The Rhino Demo Team is the Navy's tactical demonstration of the two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet, flown by a pilot and a weapon systems officer. The crews are instructors from the Navy's Super Hornet training squadrons, VFA-106 "Gladiators" at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, and VFA-122 "Flying Eagles" at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. "Rhino" is the fleet nickname that distinguishes the larger Super Hornet from the original Hornet.
The routine shows the jet's low-speed handling and high-speed passes; aircrew pull close to eight times the force of gravity and reach speeds near 750 mph. The team's 2026 season was interrupted in May, when the Navy stood down its tactical demonstration teams after two EA-18G Growler demo aircraft collided at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. The Rhino teams were cleared to resume in June.
NASA in the air
NASA's own aircraft are part of the flying schedule, and the agency's administrator is in one of the cockpits. Isaacman is flying with NASA's Freedom 250 F-5 team, which flew over NFL stadiums this fall on the agency's Inspiration Tour, the run-up to MAX POWER. NASA lists an F-5 flyover at 11:58 a.m. and a MiG-29 flyover at 1:31 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, each featuring Isaacman.
The presidential visit
President Trump arrived Friday evening and spoke at UP.Summit, which had spent Thursday and Friday as an invitation-only gathering of about 400 investors, transportation executives, and government officials before opening to the public this weekend.
The centerpiece was Capeweek, a recurring aerospace exhibition to be held at Kennedy on the former shuttle runway. NASA, the state of Florida, and Space Florida are partnering on it. Organizers have pitched it as an American counterpart to the Paris Air Show and the Farnborough International Airshow, where manufacturers announce programs and sign deals. The first Capeweek is scheduled for March 27 through April 2, 2028, with a long-range goal of drawing as many as 500,000 people to the Space Coast. Trump said the event would be a "bigger and better, grander version than the Paris Air Show."
Isaacman joined the President on stage. In a post from his official account, he called Capeweek "a great American gathering" for the people and technology shaping aerospace, and noted it would be staged on the runway that once welcomed the Space Shuttle home.
In his remarks, Trump repeated the administration's goal of returning astronauts to the Moon before the end of his term and establishing a lasting presence there, and said NASA would launch a nuclear-powered spacecraft toward Mars within two years. He pointed to an executive order lifting restrictions on supersonic flight over land, and to efforts to expand domestic drone production, electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and autonomous flight. He also referenced the Space Force and the proposed U.S. Space Academy.
Trump recognized the Artemis II crew, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen, who were in attendance, along with astronauts Randy Bresnik and Frank Rubio of the Artemis III crew. Florida Gov.-elect Byron Donalds spoke before the President, pitching the state as a manufacturing base for space companies and making the case for locating the Space Academy on the Space Coast.
What's ahead this weekend
NASA's published schedule includes:
Saturday, Nov. 7
10 a.m.: Space nuclear media gaggle with Cynthia Simmons, director of NASA's Space Reactors Division (UP.Summit)
11:30 a.m.: Opening air show remarks by NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson
12:45 p.m.: Meet the Artemis III crew: commander Randy Bresnik, pilot Luca Parmitano of ESA, mission specialist Frank Rubio, and backup crew member Bob Hines
2 p.m.: Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope talk with senior project scientist Julie McEnery (Visitor Complex)
5 p.m.: Moon Base news conference with Isaacman, Moon Base Program manager Carlos García-Galán, Associate Administrator for Science Nicky Fox, and Dayna Ise of the Moon Base Utility and Infrastructure Office
Sunday, Nov. 8
9 a.m.: X-59 briefing with Laurie Grindle, Peter Coen, and X-59 test pilot Jim "Clue" Less
10 a.m.: Student challenge announcement with Isaacman and García-Galán (Rocket Garden)
12:45 p.m.: U.S. Space Academy update from Deputy Administrator Anderson (UP.Summit)
12:45 p.m.: Meet NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway
3 p.m.: "In the Cockpit" with NASA research pilots
The Moon Base briefing will stream live at nasa.gov/live.
Sources: NASA, Orlando Sentinel, FOX 35 Orlando, Florida Today, AVweb, collectSPACE.
