In a report published Sept. 21, 2026, NASA said employees of its Johnson Space Center took part as exhibitors at Houston's Japan Festival, held at Hermann Park on Sept. 12-13, 2026. The booth highlighted the Artemis III mission and its crew along with NASA's plans for a Moon Base, and displayed models of the Orion spacecraft and the International Space Station. Interactive exhibits included space food and a real astronaut glove and helmet for attendees to try on.

NASA said its employees spoke with more than 3,000 festivalgoers, shared information about agency initiatives and handed out stickers and pins. Next to the NASA booth, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) displayed a model of the HTV-X1 cargo spacecraft, space food and images of its pressurized rover, which NASA described as potentially supporting future crewed and uncrewed lunar exploration. JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide signed autographs and posed for pictures.

NASA linked the adjacent booths to its long-standing partnership with JAXA, citing the Kibo laboratory on the space station, Japan's signing of the Artemis Accords and development of lunar surface hardware. The agency said Johnson has exhibited at the festival for the past four years.