NASA Honors JFK with Moon Rock to be Displayed at Rice Universit
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WASHINGTON -- On the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the
moon, NASA honored President John F. Kennedy with an Ambassador of
Exploration Award for his vision and leadership in landing a man on
the moon. The Kennedy family has selected Rice University to house
and publicly display the award, a lunar sample, at Fondren Library.
Kennedy called for a national initiative to go to the moon during a
speech given at Rice University on Sept. 12, 1962.
Michael Coats, a former astronaut and director of NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston, will present the moon rock to Rice University
President David Leebron on Saturday, Oct. 10, during a halftime
ceremony at the Rice versus Navy football game. NASA astronauts
George Zamka, a graduate of the Naval Academy, and Danny Olivas, a
graduate of Rice, will serve as honorary captains for their alma
maters during the game's coin toss.
Game-day attendees can see and touch a moon rock and learn about the
space shuttle, International Space Station and future exploration
programs by visiting the agency's "Driven to Explore" exhibit. The
exhibit will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CDT at the
stadium's Tailgate Owley outside Rice Stadium Gate 3. Zamka and
Olivas will sign autographs from 1 to 2 p.m. at the NASA exhibit.
NASA is giving the Ambassador of Exploration Award to the first
generation of explorers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space
programs for realizing America's goal of going to the moon. The award
is a moon rock encased in Lucite, mounted for public display. The
rock is part of the 842 pounds of lunar samples collected during six
Apollo expeditions from 1969 to 1972.
NASA Television will air a video file with highlights following the
event. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video
information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For a transcript, video and audio of Kennedy's historic speech, visit:
http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/
For information about and pictures of the NASA Ambassador of
Exploration Award, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/
For more information about Rice University, visit:
http://www.rice.edu
