============== June 18, Thursday - NASA TV Coverage Starts 11am PDT, 12PM MDT, 2PM EDT (18UT) 2 p.m. [EDT] - LRO/LCROSS Launch Coverage and Commentary (Launch Opportunities are at 5:12, 5:22 and 5:32 p.m.) - KSC (Public Channel) Source: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html ============== NASA TV - http://www.nasa.gov/ntv ================= June 15, 2009 Update The LRO and LCROSS launch was moved to June 18 to accommodate space shuttle Endeavour's June 17 liftoff. If Thursday's liftoff of LRO and LCROSS is postponed 24 hours, the launch times Friday are 6:41 p.m., 6:51 p.m. and 7:01 p.m. Saturday's opportunities are 8:08 p.m., 8:18 p.m. and 8:28 p.m. [On June 18] There will be three launch opportunities from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 5:12 p.m., 5:22 p.m. and 5:32 p.m. EDT. Source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/launch/index.html ================= June 18, 2009 Launch coverage at Ames Research Center in the Bay Area of Northern California beginning 1pm PDT (2pm MDT) for launch at 2:12pm PDT (3:12 MDT) (5:12 EDT) Members of the public are invited to the Ames Exploration Center at 1:00 p.m. PDT on June 18, 2009 to view the live televised launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS – two missions that will return to the moon during the year that NASA celebrates the 40th anniversary of Apollo. The LCROSS mission, managed by NASA Ames Research Center, will seek a definitive answer about the presence of water ice at the lunar poles by impacting on the moon’s surface. The launch will be preceded by informative, non-technical talks about the mission. More information: NASA's return to the moon will get a boost in June with the launch of two satellites that will return a wealth of data about Earth's nearest neighbor. Using a suite of seven instruments, LRO will help identify safe landing sites for future human explorers, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment and test new technology. LCROSS will use the spent second stage Atlas Centaur rocket in an unprecedented way that will culminate with two spectacular impacts on the moon's surface. In addition to looking for the presence of water, LCROSS also will increase knowledge of the mineralogical makeup of some of the remote polar craters that sunlight never reaches. The satellite represents a new generation of fast development, cost capped missions that use flight proven hardware and off the shelf software to achieve focused mission goals. The spacecraft will launch together June 18 aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, with the first launch opportunity at 2:12 p.m. PDT. Two subsequent launch opportunities are at 2:22 p.m. PDT and 2:32 p.m. PDT. The launch will be preceded by special programming that begins at 1:00 p.m. PDT. Featured speakers include Dr. Michael Bicay, Director of Science at NASA Ames, who provide information about the LRO/LCROSS mission; Dr. David Morrison, Senior Scientist and Interim Director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute, who will discuss the science of the mission and the implications of finding water; and Dr. Steven Zornetzer, Associate Director at NASA Ames. Launches are subject to change. For current information on the launch status, and for more information about LCROSS, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/ Source: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/events/2009/06-18-09.html