What:
April 12 -13, 2002, are the dates for the hottest space-related race to
be found on Earth: the Great Moonbuggy Race. The race will be held within
view of visitors at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, one of Alabama’s largest
tourist attractions.
The ninth annual competition requires students to design a vehicle and in
the process, confront real-world engineering problems. The challenges
introduce them to those faced by the NASA team that designed the Lunar Rover
Vehicle for Apollo astronauts to travel on the Moon. The challenge continues
when students race their vehicles over a half-mile simulated lunar terrain,
to encounter man-made craters, rocks, ridges and soft soil.
Who:
High school students race Friday, April 12, and college students race
Saturday, April 13. Teams from 20 states and Puerto Rico competed in 2001.
Prizes are awarded not only for the fastest vehicles, but also to the team
whose design represents the best technical approach toward solving the
engineering problem of navigating the simulated lunar surface.
More information about the competition is available on the Marshall Center’s
Great Moonbuggy Race Web site at:
http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov
When:
Friday and Saturday, April 12-13, 2002
Where:
U.S. Space & Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, Ala.
To attend:
News media planning to cover the event should contact Judy Pettus at
(256) 544-0034.
