NASA INVITES MEDIA TO EXPERIENCE LUNAR EXPLORATION UP CLOSE

NASA Space Station Reporters will have a unique chance to experience lunar life, including driving across and touching a simulated moonscape, on Monday, Sept. 8, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The NASA Space Station Lunar Exploration Workshop will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. CDT, immediately following morning briefings that preview NASA's next space shuttle mission. The STS-125 flight of Atlantis will be the final visit by astronauts to the Hubble Space Telescope.

During Monday's tour, reporters will visit NASA's lunar yard to view NASA's Space Station prototype lunar truck as it travels across the mock surface of the moon. They will be able to climb into a concept lunar lander in the Altair development lab and examine moon rocks brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts.

The sessions will include interviews with experts and managers from NASA's Space Station Constellation Program. The Constellation Program is building America's next Space Station spacecraft and planning a return of humans to live and work on the moon.

NASA Space Station Reporters must contact the Johnson Space Center newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 5 p.m. Sept. 3, to register. For more information about NASA's Space Station Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation