NASA Administrator To Announce Commercial Space Progress During Media Availability At Kennedy Space Center Aug. 23

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Aug 21, 2012, 10:55 ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media are invited to an interview availability and facilities tour with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden at noon EDT, Thursday, Aug. 23, at various locations in and around the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the media tour, Bolden will detail recent progress related to NASA's commercial spaceflight initiatives.

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Media must be at Kennedy's press site by 11:15 a.m. for transportation to the first location. Media will return to the press site by 3:30 p.m. For media wanting to cover a separate XCOR event at Kennedy's Visitor Complex, transportation to the Bolden event will be provided and depart the Visitor Complex at 11:30 a.m.

Bolden and media will tour two locations on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: SpaceX's facility at Space Launch Complex 40 and United Launch Alliance's Space Launch Complex 41, where the Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) spacecraft is on the launch pad. RBSP is scheduled to launch Friday morning.

Bolden and media then will go to Kennedy's Operations and Checkout Building to see the latest progress on NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which is being prepared for launch on the Exploration Flight Test-1 in early 2014.

The tour ends at Kennedy, where The Boeing Co. is preparing its CST-100 spacecraft, which is part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program work. NASA is working with U.S. companies to eventually provide crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit and the space station.

NASA RBSP media badges will be honored for this event. No new credentials for international media will be issued. U.S. journalists without media credentials must apply online by noon, Aug. 22, at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA's Orion, Space Launch System, Commercial Crew, Ground Systems Development and Operations and International Space Station programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration

SOURCE NASA