NASA invites media members and social media followers to agency centers across the country Monday, March 11, to get an up-close look at America’s work to return astronauts to the Moon and send them on to Mars, following the delivery of President Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal to the U.S. Congress.
The main event will take place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will address the agency’s workforce at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT). His remarks will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
NASA centers, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will host media members and social media followers to view the KSC event, followed by tours and presentations.
After Bridenstine’s address, attendees at JPL will learn how the center’s robotic missions help future human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Participants will meet scientists and engineers and go behind the scenes in JPL’s space facilities. Highlights will include stops in:
• von Karman Visitor Center museum to view a lunar rock and Surveyor 3 hardware retrieved by Apollo 12 astronauts,
• mission control
• and the Mars 2020 rover being assembled in a JPL clean room.
To arrange access at JPL, media must RSVP to Mark Petrovich in the JPL Media Relations Office at Mark.Petrovich@jpl.nasa.gov or 818-354-5011, by Friday, Mar. 8, at noon PDT (3 p.m. EDT). Media who pre-arrange access must also bring valid media credentials and a government-issued photo I.D., and Green Card holders must bring a valid passport or Green Card. The social media application period is over, and attendees have been notified.
Also on March 11, NASA Chief Financial Officer Jeff DeWit and Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Strategy, Budget, and Performance Andrew Hunter will brief media on the agency’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal during a 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. EDT) teleconference. To participate in this briefing, media must contact Karen Northon at karen.northon@nasa.gov no later than 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) March 11.
Audio and visuals from the teleconference will stream live at:
The agency budget and supporting information will be available online Monday at:
The direction from Space Policy Directive-1 builds on the hard work NASA is doing on its SLS and Orion spacecraft, agency efforts to enable commercial partners, its work with international partners at the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, and what NASA learns from its current robotic missions at the Moon and Mars. Learn more at:
