NASA To Host Media Teleconference On Probes' Moon Orbit Insertion

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m.
PST on Wednesday, Dec. 28, to preview twin spacecraft being placed in
orbit around the moon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

NASA's twin lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)
probes were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Sept.
10, 2011. GRAIL-A is scheduled to arrive in lunar orbit beginning at
1:21 p.m. PST on Saturday, Dec. 31, and GRAIL-B on Sunday, Jan. 1,
beginning at 2:05 p.m. PST.

After confirmation they are in orbit and
operating nominally, the two solar-powered spacecraft will fly in
tandem orbits to answer longstanding questions about the moon and
give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky
planets in the solar system formed.

Participants are:
- Maria Zuber, principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge
- David Lehman, project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), Pasadena, Calif.

To participate, reporters must contact the JPL Media Relations Office
at 818-354-5011 by 10:30 a.m. PST on Dec. 28 for the call-in number
and passcode.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

Supporting images will be available 15 minutes prior to the
teleconference at:

http://1.usa.gov/grailnews

For more information about GRAIL visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/grail

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