The Exploration Center at NASA Ames Research Center will be open on Wednesday, June 30, from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. PDT so San Francisco Bay area news media representatives and the public can view live televised coverage and commentary of the Cassini Saturn Orbital Insertion (SOI) event.
After a nearly seven-year voyage from Earth, the Cassini spacecraft is scheduled to swing into the orbit of Saturn during the SOI event. The spacecraft’s main engine will burn for 96 minutes, allowing it to be captured by Saturn’s strong gravity.
After ongoing mission coverage and commentary from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., NASA Television is scheduled to air a live ‘status’ news briefing at 10 p.m. PDT. In addition, researchers from NASA Ames who are part of the Cassini-Huygens mission will be available for news interviews.
The Exploration Center is located in the large white tent that formerly housed Space Camp California at the main gate to Moffett Field. The Exploration Center features a dynamic array of interactive displays, exhibits and demonstrations about space exploration that are designed to excite, inform and educate the public.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.
For information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/
