For Release: April 11, 1996

Kathryn Cataldo
Office of Media Services
(205) 544-0034 or (205) 544-2188

RELEASE NO.: 96-25 N

NOTE TO WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT EDITORS/PRODUCERS

GREAT MOON BUGGY RACE SATELLITE SHOTS AVAILABLE

College, university and high school students from across the United States will pit their engineering and driving skills against each other during NASA’s Third Annual Great Moon Buggy Race in Huntsville, Ala., on April 20.

Live and taped interviews are available via satellite before, during and after the race with the students, NASA sponsors, and engineers who worked on the real moon buggy for NASA. Video can be provided of each team’s moon buggy and course runs. The event will take place at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. Student creativity is encouraged, so expect to see plenty of duct tape, inner tubes and plywood.

The competition gives students an opportunity to put their skills to work by designing, constructing and testing an original design vehicle. The race also kindles an excitement for the human exploration of space.

Eighteen student teams will traverse a three-quarter mile course that winds through the Space Center’s Shuttle Park past a full-scale Space Shuttle, twists through a wooded area, drops behind a Saturn rocket like the one that took man to the moon, and maneuvers across simulated lunar terrain. Each team will race a two-person, human-powered buggy, piloted by one male and female student. The clock starts as team members assemble and carry their moon buggy to the starting line, an then again as the team races around the course.

First place winners will receive a trip to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch a Space Shuttle launch.

The interviews will be available on NASA TV which is located on C-Band, Spacenet 2, Transponder 5, Channel 9 at 69 degrees west longitude. The transponder frequency is 3880 Mhz and the audio subcarrier is 6.8 Mhz.

To request an interview or more information, please contact Kathryn Cataldo at NASA at (205) 544-0034 OR (205) 544-2188.

University and college teams scheduled to compete include: Arizona State University, (two buggies); Florida Atlantic University; Florida Institute of Technology; University of Florida; Georgia Institute of Technology; Georgia Southern; University of Evansville (Ind.); Pittsburgh State University (Kansas); Northern Kentucky University; Trenton State College (New Jersey); University of Puerto Rico at Humacao; the University of Vermont; and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (two buggies).

The high school division includes: Winston Community Technical Center in Double Springs, Ala.; Autauga County Area Vocational Center in Prattville, Ala.; Monterey High School in Monterey, La.; and Bob Jones High School from Madison, Ala.

The event is sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, the National Space Club, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Universities Space Research Association, the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion #24, the Army Missile Command and Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.