Astronaut Lacy Veach Day of Discovery will help honor a man who went above and beyond his duty as a pilot and became a NASA astronaut, with science workshops and talks Saturday at Kamehameha Schools’ Princess Ruth Keelikolani Performing Arts Center.

The Saturday event, now in its 18th year, will feature 24 interactive science workshops with topics ranging from energy, volcanoes, fossils, robotics and the galaxy as well as keynote speaker Nainoa Thompson, expert ocean navigator and close friend of Veach. NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba, who has logged 306 days in space over three missions, will also give a talk.

“These activities simultaneously reinforce knowledge-based approaches and values,” said Dora Nakafuji of Kamehameha Schools. “From microbes to robots, bugs to trees, the workshops are all interactive and hands-on and show students how they can make an impact — learn by doing and do by learning.”

Veach, a 1962 Punahou graduate, was a decorated pilot from the Vietnam War, flew for the Thunderbirds and logged 436 hours in space on two space shuttle missions. He died in 1995 in Houston.

—

ASTRONAUT LACY VEACH DAY OF DISCOVERY

>> When: 8:30 a.m. Saturday; 7:45 to 8:15 a.m. registration open for students grades 3 to 12, plus their teachers and parents

>> Where: Princess Ruth Keelikolani Performing Arts Center, Kamehameha Schools, 1887 Makuakane St.

>> Cost: Free

>> Info: spacegrant.hawaii.edu