NASA Invites Reporters to Events for LCROSS Lunar Impact

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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@nasa.gov or Rachel Prucey at 650-604-0643 or
rachel.l.prucey@nasa.gov.

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@nasa.gov or
Ashley Edwards at ashley.edwards-1@nasa.gov.

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