Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4997
stephanie.schierh...@nasa.gov

Amy Johnson
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
757-864-7022/272-9859
amy.john...@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 09-262

NASA LIVE DIGITAL NETWORK BRINGS APOLLO 11 EXPERTS INTO CLASSROOMS

WASHINGTON -- Forty years after humans first walked on the moon, NASA
is offering the next generation of explorers a chance to learn how
the challenges of the Apollo 11 mission were met. Through a series of
interactive educational videoconferences, students will hear
firsthand accounts of the people who made the lunar landing possible.

During a week of programs beginning Nov. 16, NASA's Digital Learning
Network will host videoconferences between classrooms around the
country and NASA employees who had a special connection with the
Apollo 11 moon mission.

The series kicks off Nov. 16 from NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Va., focusing on the work of aerospace pioneer John Houbolt.
Students will learn how a young engineer convinced his boss that
lunar exploration would be possible only if something called "Lunar
Orbit Rendezvous" was used as the passageway to the moon.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will host the
Nov. 17 videoconference, during which students will learn how a
rocket taller than the Statue of Liberty was constructed for peaceful
space exploration and why its presence tipped the scale of the space
race in favor of the U.S.

Students will connect with NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on
Nov. 18 to discover America's spaceport, the site where the Apollo 11
astronauts made their final preparations before counting down to
launch on the fastest rocket in the world, the Saturn V.

During a Nov. 19 event with NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston,
series participants will learn more about the home of the astronaut
corps and take a peek inside NASA's Mission Control Center, the
setting of communication with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong,
Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins as they were zooming toward the moon.

The week-long series concludes on Nov. 20 from NASA's Ames Research
Center in Moffett Field, Calif., where students will learn how NASA
may one day return to the moon and explore the universe beyond with
the Constellation Program.

The one-hour programs will begin at 1 p.m. EST each day. The
videoconferences will be webcast to the public and can be viewed at:

http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/webcast

With this and other elementary and middle school education programs,
NASA seeks to engage and attract students to science, technology,
engineering and mathematics -- disciplines critical to the nation's
space exploration efforts.

To learn more about NASA's Digital Learning Network, visit:

http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/index.jsp

To learn more about NASA's education programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education

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