GREENBELT, Md. – NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. will host a free evening event at its Visitor Center on Saturday, August 1 from 7-10 p.m. EDT to celebrate NASA’s new lunar satellite, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission.
The free evening event will be packed with informative and entertaining activities. It will showcase images of the lunar surface and Apollo landing sites fresh from the LRO spacecraft. A panel of experts will lead an informal discussion of the Apollo and LRO missions. Members of the LRO team will share their perspectives on the satellite and its instruments.
If the weather permits, visitors can see the moon and stars using telescopes during a special star gazing party and can go on a short bus tour to the laser ranging facility where engineers track the LRO satellite.
A number of hands-on activities for elementary school students and their families will provide knowledge and understanding of the phases of the moon, crater creation, and the scale of the Earth/Moon system.
The LRO mission, built and managed by NASA Goddard, launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. on June 18, 2009. LRO will spend at least one year in low polar orbit around the moon, collecting detailed information at the lunar surface. The LRO objectives are to scout for safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology. Data gleaned from LRO will be used to advance goals for future human exploration of the solar system.
For more information about LRO, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/lro
