What: The Web will be abuzz this year with coverage of the 17th annual NASA Great Moonbuggy Race, to be held April 9-10 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. Ustream – a one-stop shop for video, Facebook and Twitter updates — will carry live coverage of the race from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CDT April 9 at http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov.
The winners of the Great Moonbuggy Race will be posted April 10 to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center Newsroom Web site: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news
Moonbuggy enthusiasts also can follow the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/moonbuggyrace) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/moonbuggyrace) April 9-10. NASA will “Tweet” updates throughout the race, including total race times for each team and the race winners.
When: Race winners and photos will be posted after 8 p.m. CDT April 10 at the conclusion of the competition. Racing begins: Friday, April 9 – First runs for high school and college competitors are scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. CDT Saturday, April 10 – Second competitor runs are scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT
Who: Nearly 100 high school, college and university student teams from 19 states and Puerto Rico, Canada, Germany, Serbia, India and Romania will race their specially crafted, two-person buggies against the clock through a challenging course of rugged, moon-like terrain at the Space & Rocket Center.
Why: The NASA Great Moonbuggy Race began in 1994, inspired by the original lunar rovers developed for the Apollo moon missions in the 1970s by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center engineers. The race is one of dozens of educational projects and initiatives led by the Marshall Center each year to attract and engage America’s next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers — those who will carry on the nation’s mission of exploration to uncharted destinations in the solar system.
News media interested in covering the event should contact the Marshall Center Public & Employee Communications Office at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. CDT Thursday, April 8.
For more event details, race rules, information on the course and photos from previous competitions, visit:
http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov For more information about NASA and its programs, visit:
