The 1960s were the golden age for space exploration, and like most Americans, 13-year-old Bill Nye was caught up in the magic of the first moon walk.

“I was on my knees with my nose pressed to the TV, my parents were sitting behind me,” Nye recalled in a phone conversation last week. As Neil Armstrong took that “one small step” Nye remembers, “We were astonished, but we thought, of course they’ll pull it off — it’s NASA!”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ain’t what it used to be, but Nye still applies to be an astronaut every year.

“I get a postcard back,” he said with an almost audible shrug, but he didn’t seem that disappointed.

“What’s wrong with NASA is, ‘to boldly go where no man has gone’ is great, but ‘to timidly go where a couple hundred have been,’ is not so great,” he said.

Nye is known to children and their parents across the country as Bill Nye the Science Guy, the offbeat, bow tie-wearing geek who makes science fun.

Nye has a background in “real” science, but found he was also funny. The Science Guy persona developed in Seattle, on the locally produced late night comedy show, “Almost Live,” in 1987. Nye remembers one of the first skits was “Household uses of liquid nitrogen.”

“I dressed in a blue lab coat and had this ‘know-it-all’ attitude,” he said. The Science Guy acted like science was a part of everyday life, as if everyone had things like liquid nitrogen around the house.

“Then things got wackier and wackier,” he said. “There were lots of fires and explosions.”

That wacky, exploding unpredictability became the trademark of “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” a show that ran on PBS from 1992-1998 and turned thousands of kids on to science.

Over the course of the show’s six years on air, Nye garnered 28 regional and national Emmys. He has also written five science books for children, from “Bill Nye the Science Guy’s Great Big Blast of Science” to “Bill Nye the Science Guy’s Great Big Book of Tiny Germs.”

His blue lab coat and ever-present bow tie have become the essence of geek chic. And he loves what he does.

“The real thing that drives me is the PBJ — passion, beauty and joy — of science,” he said.

In spite of his mock-intellectual appearance, Nye really is a scientist, with what he modestly calls a “rudimentary understanding of rocket science,” among other areas of expertise and interest.

He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and two honorary doctorates from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Goucher College.

His current passion is the exploration of Mars by the Rover robots. Both robots carry sundials engineered by Nye — a passion he inherited from his father. As the story goes, he took one look at the robots’ photometric calibration targets (which stick up on top of the four-wheeled frame) and said, “Hey, we’ve got to make these into sundials!”

Now, both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers sport photometric calibration MarsDials. The MarsDial motto is “Two Worlds One Sun.”

“It’s a sobering thought, that the shadows on Mars are cast by the same star that casts shadows on earth,” he said. (The sun is a star, for you non-science types.)

Nye has also worked to set up the EarthDial project, a set of sundials around the world like those of the MarsDials, linked together on the Internet. Check it out at www.planetary.org/mars/earthdial/.

Nye serves on several scientific boards, including the Planetary Society, Mars Athena Exploration Team and the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.

And yes, he wears that bow tie to serious meetings.

Nye brings his energetic science show to Bainbridge Island for two shows Feb. 11, as a benefit for Kids Discovery Museum.

Nye said the show will feature a popular experiment: the implosion of an oil drum, plus some classic demonstrations.

In his ongoing mission to get kids excited about science, he will also talk about the exploration of Mars, and his role in that operation.

Cheryl Dale, museum executive director, said Nye has had the museum staff scavenging the island and Seattle for supplies for his show. The list includes a fog machine, propane “clambake” stove and bung wrench.

“I didn’t even know what a ‘bung wrench’ was,” Dale said.

Dale said she’s personally looking forward to seeing someone who is such an “icon for education.”

“His show fits in well with the mission of the museum, (which is) the combination of education and science,” she said. “And I’m looking forward to him blowing things up.”

Dale said she has been surprised at the number of tickets sold to people across the United States, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and New Mexico, as well as the entire State of Washington.

She said a lot of the interest seems to stem from the fact that while Nye continues to be popular with children, and parents who remember watching the series, he seldom performs public Science Guy shows. Most of his gigs are for private events such as corporate conventions.

For the Bainbridge show, he will once again demonstrate the “PBJ” of science. And probably blow things up.

Bill Nye the Science Guy will present two shows, 1 and 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Bainbridge High School Gym on High School Road, Bainbridge Island.

Tickets are $25 each, available by calling Kids Discovery Museum at (206) 855-4650 or online at www.ticketweb.com. wu