NASA Announces Media, Public Events for Upcoming Lunar Mission Launch

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Sep 04, 2013, 11:49 ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's schedule of events, including news conferences and live television coverage related to the Friday, Sept. 6 launch of the agency's next lunar mission, is now available.

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The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft will launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad 0B at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Launch is targeted for 11:27 p.m. EDT at the opening of a four-minute launch window. NASA Television launch coverage begins at 9:30 p.m. Backup launch opportunities occur Sept. 7-10.

NASA will host two prelaunch news conferences at the NASA Wallops Visitor Center on Thursday, Sept. 5. NASA TV and the agency's website will air the briefings live with question and answer capability available from participating NASA centers or by using a phone bridge. To participate via phone bridge, journalists must call Dwayne Brown at 202-329-6585 by 2:45 p.m. Thursday. Questions also can be asked during the briefings via Twitter by using the hashtag #askNASA.

Live NASA TV launch coverage also will be broadcast on the Toshiba Vision screen in New York's Times Square from 10:30 p.m. Sept. 6 to 1 a.m. Sept. 7. The Toshiba Vision screen is positioned directly below the world-famous New Year's Eve Ball on One Times Square. Visitors to Times Square, and around the world, can hear live audio of the broadcast by tuning into Third Rock Radio. Third Rock Radio can be streamed from the NASA homepage, and on smart phones and tablets through the Tuneln mobile app.

EVENT SCHEDULE (All times Eastern)

Thursday, Sept. 5

10-11:30 a.m.: NASA Social TV broadcast featuring presentations on how to get involved with the mission, as well as an informal question and answer session with NASA leadership and members of the LADEE team.

3 p.m.: Prelaunch news briefing. Participants will include:
-- John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- S. Pete Worden, center director, NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
-- Bill Wrobel, center director, Wallops
-- Sarah Dougherty, test director, Wallops
-- Butler Hine, LADEE project manager, Ames

4 p.m.: LADEE science/technology briefing. Participants will include:
-- Sarah Noble, LADEE program scientist, NASA Headquarters
-- Rick Elphic, LADEE project scientist, Ames
-- Don Cornwell, Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration mission manager, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Friday, Sept. 6: Launch Day

9:30 p.m.: Live launch coverage on NASA TV. To view launch coverage via the Web and for more information about the LADEE mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ladee

9:30 – 11:35 p.m.: Prelaunch webcast on NASA EDGE, live from Wallops and featuring experts discussing the LADEE mission. During the webcast, viewers can ask questions via social media using the hashtag #askNASA. To watch the live webcast, visit:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasaedge

Saturday, Sept. 7

Approximately two hours after launch, NASA TV will air a post-launch news conference.

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

For questions about accreditation or additional information, contact Keith Koehler at [email protected] or 757-824-1579.

LADEE is the first spacecraft designed, developed, built, integrated and tested at Ames. The spacecraft will launch on a U.S. Air Force Minotaur V rocket, an excess ballistic missile converted into a space launch vehicle and operated by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.

LADEE is a robotic research mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky.

For real-time launch and mission updates via social media, follow @NASA and @NASALADEE on Twitter.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

SOURCE NASA