While Washington DC is filled with musicians and celebrities this week to celebrate the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, there's a group on the ground that holds a special place in the geek heart — NASA. The space agency used inauguration weekend as an opportunity to let the public check out the NASA headquarters, mingle with astronauts and the team responsible for the Mars Curiosity rover, and get children excited about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education.
NASA was also at the Inaugural Parade, with full-size models of two spacecraft, the Curiosity rover and the Orion capsule. Walking with the floats were astronauts Alvin Drew, Serena Aunon, Kate Rubins, Mike Massimino, Lee Morin and Kjell Lindgren, Leland Melvin, and John Grunsfeld, along with the Curiosity team from California including Mohawk Guy Bobak Ferdowsi. Hip hip hooray for science's big day at the festivities!