Media and the public are invited to attend two events Monday, Aug. 25 from 1-3 p.m. EDT to learn more about the agency’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and its historic connection to the Voyager spacecraft’s visit to Neptune in 1989.
The events, which will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website, will take place in the Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW in Washington.
New Horizons will conduct a six -month-long study of Pluto and its five moons, including a close approach in July 2015.
• The 1-2 p.m. event will feature a panel discussion with:
o Jim Green, director, NASA’s Planetary Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
o Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
o Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
• The 2-3 p.m. event will include several New Horizons science team members giving personal accounts of their work during the Voyager Neptune encounter and their new assignments on the Pluto mission. Panel participants include:
o Moderator: David Grinspoon, Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona
o Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado, Boulder
o Bonnie Buratti, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
o Jeffrey Moore, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
o John Spencer, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
Media can ask questions from participating NASA locations, or by telephone. To participate by phone, reporters must contact Steve Cole at 202-358-0918 orstephen.e.cole@nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation by noon Monday.
Media and the public can also ask questions via social media using #askNASA.
For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:
For more information on New Horizons on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/