NASA Looking for Future Explorers for Educational Challenge

Dec. 15, 2006

Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761

Angela Storey
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-189

NASA LOOKING FOR FUTURE EXPLORERS FOR EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGE

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - NASA is searching for the next generation of space
explorers to participate in the fun, exciting and educational
challenge of designing and building their own version of NASA's lunar
rover or "moonbuggy" to compete in NASA's 14th Great Moonbuggy Race.

This annual event will be held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in
Huntsville, Ala., and is sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Corp of
Los Angeles. The high school competition will be Friday, April 13,
2007, with the college competition scheduled for Saturday, April 14.

College and high school students from across the country will put
their knowledge to work in a real-world environment as they discover
practical uses for science, technology, engineering and math in the
unique competitive atmosphere of the race.

Student teams are challenged to meet design criteria set by scientists
and engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville,
where the original lunar rover was designed and tested before it was
driven by astronauts on the moon during the last three Apollo
missions in the 1970s. The first Great Moonbuggy Race was run in 1994
to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

Teams will compete for the best time around a half-mile, simulated
lunar course. The deadline for schools to register for the
competition is Feb. 1, 2007.

For more information, including race rules, information on the course
and photos from previous competitions, visit:

http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov

-end-

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