Georgia's Rock Ranch and NASA celebrate fifty years of spaceflight

(MACON, Ga.) -- America's space program has landed in the heart of Georgia in a corn field located on a cattle ranch.

Autumn's arrival across Georgia brings with it a season for pumpkins, harvests and a huge NASA-styled corn maze located in the heart of the Peach State.

The Rock Ranch, located northwest of Macon, is a member of the nationwide program Space Farm 7, and the home to a NASA sponsored corn maze depicting a huge astronaut and the NASA logo in honor of fifty years of space exploration.

Space Farm 7 are seven ranches selected by the space agency across America to help promote the science of agriculture for children.

“In 1969, I sat with my family glued to a television watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon for the first time,” the ranch's General Manager Jeff Manley said. “So, now that we have the opportunity to commemorate with NASA their decades of successes, it is truly an honor.”

Several space educational displays stand near the maze on loan from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The 1,250 acre Rock Ranch, owned by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy, is a working cattle ranch created to help teach children and adults the sciences of agriculture and farming.

NASA is helping to promote the growing of crops not only on earth but in space for future long duration trips to an asteroid or Mars.

Manley adds The Rock Ranch's partnership with NASA allows the ranch to present a rich educational moment for children unable to visit the several space centers across America.

Festivities surrounding the astronomical corn maze begins on September 24, and run every Saturday thru November 13, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Children and adults can also take a train Ride and a hay rides; visit a petting zoo, speed down a zip line or take a pony ride. The famous Pumpkin Cannon is another ballistic highlight of the day.

Tickets can be purchased online or at the entrance.