U.S. Space & Rocket Center

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is the authority NASA Visitor Information Center for the Marshall Space Flight Center. Shows incorporate the world's just full-scale Space Transportation System presentation including an External Tank, a set of twin Solid Rocket Boosters and the improvement test article Shuttle Orbiter, Pathfinder; and additionally the National Historic Landmark Saturn V moon rocket. The USSRC is likewise home to the Space Camp and Aviation Challenge Camp and Robotics Camp projects for understudies ages 7-18. Projects are additionally accessible for grown-ups, instructors and corporate customers.

Notwithstanding widely acclaimed shows and instructive projects, the USSRC offers educational day by day voyages through Redstone Arsenal, central station to the U.S. Armed force Materiel Command and home of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. The visit incorporates the National Historic Landmark Redstone Test Stand, the Payload Operations and Integration Center, which arranges all exploratory investigates the International Space Station, and the Dynamic Test Stand used to test the Saturn V rocket.

Space & Rocket

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama is a museum operated by the government of Alabama, showcasing rockets, achievements, and artifacts of the U.S. space program. Sometimes billed as "Earth's largest space museum", astronaut Owen Garriott described the place as, "a great way to learn about space in a town that has embraced the space program from the very beginning."

Opened in 1970, just after the second manned mission to the lunar surface, the center not only showcases Apollo Program hardware but also houses interactive science exhibits, Space Shuttle and Army rocketry and aircraft. With more than 1,500 permanent rocketry and space exploration artifacts, as well as many rotating rocketry and space-related exhibits, the center occupies land carved out of Redstone Arsenal adjacent to Huntsville Botanical Garden at exit 15 on Interstate 565. The center offers bus tours of nearby Marshall Space Flight Center.

Two camp programs offer visitors the opportunity to stay on the grounds and learn more about their respective subject matter. U.S. Space Camp gives an in-depth exposure to the space program through participant use of simulators, lectures, and training exercises. Similarly, Aviation Challenge offers a taste of military fighter pilot training including simulations, lectures, and survival exercises. Both camps provide residential and day camp educational programs for children and adults.

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use.Rocket engines work by action and reaction. Rocket engines push rockets forwards simply by throwing their exhaust backwards extremely fast.

While comparatively inefficient for low speed use, rockets are relatively lightweight and powerful, capable of generating large accelerations and of attaining extremely high speeds with reasonable efficiency. Rockets are not reliant on the atmosphere and work very well in space.
Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th century China.Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology of the Space Age, including setting foot on the moon. Rockets are now used for fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight and space exploration.

Chemical rockets are the most common type of rocket and they typically create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant. Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks.

NASA Sets GRAIL/DELTA II Launch Coverage Events

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's GRAIL spacecraft is set to launch to the moon aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket on Sept. 8, 2011, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. There are two instantaneous (one-second) launch windows at 8:37:06 a.m. and 9:16:12 a.m. EDT (5:37:06 a.m. and 6:16:12 a.m. EDT). The launch period extends through Oct. 19. The launch times occur approximately 4 minutes earlier each day.

GRAIL's primary science objectives are to determine the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core, and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.

GRAIL Prelaunch News Conference

A prelaunch news conference will be held at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Press Site on Sept. 6, at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT). Participating in the briefing will be:

Ed Weiler, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Tim Dunn, NASA launch director
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Vernon Thorp, program manager, NASA Missions
United Launch Alliance, Denver

David Lehman, GRAIL project manager
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif

John Henk, GRAIL program manager
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver

Joel Tumbiolo, launch weather officer
45th Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

GRAIL Mission Science Briefing

A GRAIL mission science briefing will be held at Kennedy's Press Site on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. EDT (7 a.m. PDT). Participating in the briefing will be:

Robert Fogel, GRAIL program scientist
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

Sami Asmar, GRAIL deputy project scientist
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Sally Ride, president and CEO
Sally Ride Science, San Diego

A post-launch news conference will be held at Kennedy's Press Site at a time to be determined after launch.


NASA Television Coverage

NASA Television will carry the GRAIL prelaunch news conference beginning at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT) on Sept. 6 and the GRAIL mission science briefing on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. EDT (7 a.m. PDT).

On Sept. 8, NASA Television coverage of the launch will begin at 6 a.m. EDT (3 a.m. PDT) and conclude after spacecraft separation from the Delta II has occurred about one hour after launch. Live launch coverage will be carried on all NASA Television channels and on the agency's website.

A post-launch news conference will be held at Kennedy's Press Site at a time to be determined after launch.

For NASA Television downlink information, schedule information and streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .

Launch will also be available on local amateur VHF radio frequency 146.940 MHz heard within Brevard County.

NASA Web prelaunch and launch coverage

Extensive prelaunch and launch day coverage of the liftoff of the GRAIL spacecraft aboard the Delta II rocket will be available on NASA's home page on the Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov .

A prelaunch webcast for the GRAIL mission will be streamed on the Web on Sept. 7, at noon. Live countdown coverage through NASA's Launch Blog begins at 6:30 a.m. EDT (3:30 a.m. PDT) on Sept. 8. Coverage features live updates as countdown milestones occur, as well as streaming video clips highlighting launch preparations and liftoff.

To view the webcast and the blog or to learn more about the GRAIL mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/grail or http://grail.nasa.gov .

The news conferences and launch coverage will be streamed live, with a chat available, at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

Twitter

The NASA News Twitter feed will be updated throughout the launch countdown. To access the NASA News Twitter feed, visit: http://www.twitter.com/nasa .


NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL mission for the principal investigator, Maria Zuber, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. The GRAIL mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.