Media Invited to View NASA Spacecraft That Will Touch the Sun

[NASA News Releases <hqnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

	March 21, 2018  MEDIA ADVISORY M18-050 Media Invited to View NASA Spacecraft That Will Touch the Sun This illustration of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe depicts the spacecraft traveling through the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Humanity’s first mission to a star, Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to launch July 31, 2018. Credits: JHU APL Media are invited to view NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 28, at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The spacecraft will embark this summer on a daring trek, traveling closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history. The Sun is the only star that can be studied up close. In addition to helping solve how stars throughout the universe drive heat, radiation, energy and particles out into space, data from the spacecraft will help scientists better understand how this constant solar outpouring can create hazardous space weather events near Earth. Space weather can impact not only astronauts living and working in space, but also interfere with satellites and radio signals. Media attending the event will have an opportunity to interview the mission team as well as view the spacecraft from outside the cleanroom where it is undergoing final testing before it ships to NASA’s Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida for a scheduled July 31 launch. Media representatives need to RSVP online by 5 p.m. Monday, March 26 at: http://bit.ly/2p8Kh5d Media may contact Haley Reed at haley.p.reed@xxxxxxxx or 301- 286-3131 for further information. Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star (LWS) Program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, manages the mission for NASA. APL designed and built the spacecraft, and also will operate it. -end-
	Press Contacts Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne.c.brown@xxxxxxxx   Karen Fox Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-6284 karen.c.fox@xxxxxxxx Geoff Brown Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. 240-228-5618 geoffrey.brown@xxxxxxxxxx
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