NASA Deputy Administrator Holds Space Coast Media Availabilities

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Media are invited to accompany NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver on Feb. 14 as she visits several locations in and near Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to highlight NASA’s commercial cargo and crew programs and deep space human exploration plans.

At 8:30 a.m. EST, Garver will attend a pre-proposal conference for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program at the Courtyard Marriott in Cocoa Beach, Fla. The meeting will focus on information related to the release of the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) Announcement for Proposals. It is expected that proposals will lead to Space Act Agreements that will help NASA and the United States achieve safe, reliable, and cost effective human access to space. At 9 a.m. Garver will be available for media questions.

Following Garver’s participation in the meeting, media will be transported from the hotel via government bus to Kennedy’s Multi-Payload Processing Facility at 10 a.m. to see a recently arrived test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, the vehicle that will take humans into deep space. The full-scale crew module was used by ground crews in advance of the launch abort system flight test that took place in New Mexico in 2010. Garver, along with Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, will be available for media questions at the facility.

Garver and media then will go to the mobile launcher (ML) for NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS), the heavy-lift rocket being designed to launch the Orion spacecraft into deep space. Media will get to tour the 355-foot-tall ML, which is parked next to Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building, as it is being prepared to begin undergoing modifications to support launches of the SLS from Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39B.

Media will be transported back to the Courtyard Marriott by 12:15 p.m.

Journalists need to meet in the Courtyard Marriott main lobby by no later than 9:15 a.m. for transportation to the events inside Kennedy. Media credentialing is not required for these availabilities; however, journalists must take the government bus from the Courtyard Marriott to participate.

For information about NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

For information about NASA’s Orion, Space Launch Systems and Ground Systems Development and Operations Programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/index.html