Watch: Ohio State marching band honors NASA astronauts for halftime show

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The Best Damn Band In The Land reached for the stars during Saturday's halftime show and honored the men and women from Ohio that have been beyond Earth.

The Ohio State marching band's third halftime show of the 2024 season honored Ohio's NASA astronauts in "The Road to the Moon Goes Through Ohio." The Buckeye State has dozens of men and women who were NASA astronauts, among them being the first man to walk on the moon Neil Armstrong and the first man to orbit Earth, former Sen. John Glenn.

During the break in the Buckeyes game against Marshall, TBDBITL played iconic space-themed songs from the main theme of the film "Apollo 13" to Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon", coupling those tunes with formations of spaceships and the stars. You can watch the halftime show in the video player above.

The band welcomed home two Ohio State graduates who now work for NASA for the out of this world halftime show. “It’s a lot of fun. I mean we’ve got the best damn band in the land and just to see them perform is really exciting,” said NASA Flight Director Jeff Radigan.

Jeff and his wife Molly are Ohio State alumni and now work at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. They were honored during the halftime show and came onto the field for the Scarlet and Gray salute.

“It’s hard to describe. I have always loved the Ohio State band. I always came to the Skull Sessions and so the opportunity for them to share all that Ohio has done for aviation and space research I really hope the rest of the country learns a little more about what’s here in Ohio for space,” said Molly Radigan, Deputy Chief of Space Flight Systems.

Dr. Jimmy Kenyon joined the couple on the field too for the salute. He’s the director of NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Dr. Kenyon said he is always grateful to work with Ohio State. “Ohio State has a great engineering school and just a great university so close to us. We have a lot of graduates who come from Ohio State and we do a lot of work collaboratively advancing technologies and materials,” he said.

Dr. Kenyon said while it was an honor for him to be a part of the game, he is also hoping that viewers get inspired by the performance. “It’s a great recognition and more importantly to me it’s a great opportunity to advertise and to tell people ‘Hey we’re here in Ohio. If you want to work for the greatest agency in the world, put people in space and make flying better you can do that right here in Ohio,’” he said.