Oct. 6, 2009 Grey Hautaluoma/Ashley Edwards Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0668/1756 grey.hautaluoma-1@xxxxxxxx, ashley.edwards-1@xxxxxxxx Jonas Dino Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 650-604-5612 jonas.dino@xxxxxxxx MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-192 NASA INVITES REPORTERS TO EVENTS FOR LCROSS LUNAR IMPACT WASHINGTON -- NASA is inviting journalists to events this week in Washington and California to observe the twin impacts of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, and its rocket's upper stage as they impact the moon. The goal of the mission is to search for water ice on the moon. The satellite and upper stage both are scheduled to hit a permanently shadowed crater of the moon, four minutes apart, at 7:30 a.m. and 7:34 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 9. NASA Television coverage begins at 6:30 a.m. NASA will hold a pre-impact media teleconference on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 2:30 p.m. from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. NASA will provide a mission update and discuss what to expect as the Centaur upper stage rocket and the LCROSS spacecraft impact Cabeus crater, near the lunar south pole. Briefing participants on Oct. 8 are: - Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager, Ames - Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator, Ames - Jennifer Heldmann, coordinator for the LCROSS observation campaign, Ames Live audio of the teleconference will be streamed online at: http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio Ames also will hold a post-impact news conference at 10 a.m. on Oct. 9 in the center's main auditorium in Building 201. The news conference will be broadcast on NASA TV and the agency's Web site. Briefing participants on Oct. 9 are: - Daniel Dumbacher, deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington - Pete Worden, Ames center director - Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager, Ames - Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator, Ames - Jennifer Heldmann, coordinator for the LCROSS observation campaign, Ames To participate in the Oct. 8 teleconference and the Oct. 9 post-impact news conference, contact Jonas Dino at 650-604-5612 or jonas.dino@xxxxxxxx or Rachel Prucey at 650-604-0643 or rachel.l.prucey@xxxxxxxxx Also on Oct. 9, reporters are invited to the Newseum in Washington to view the LCROSS impacts. The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. Journalists should arrive by 7 a.m. There will not be an opportunity for questions at the Newseum event, but reporters may participate by telephone in the 10 a.m. news conference that will take place at Ames. Reporters interested in attending the Newseum event in Washington should RSVP to Grey Hautaluoma at grey.hautaluoma-1@xxxxxxxx or Ashley Edwards at ashley.edwards-1@xxxxxxxxx The NASA Exploration Center at Ames will serve as the press site for the LCROSS impacts. The press site opens to journalists at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, and will remain open until noon on Friday, Oct. 9. All accredited journalists must sign in at the Exploration Center to receive badges and vehicle passes needed to gain access to the Ames main auditorium for the post-impact news conference. For more information about LCROSS, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/lcross For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: hqnews-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To remove your address from the list, send a message to: hqnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
