[meteorite-list] NASA Honors JFK with Moon Rock to be Displayed at Rice University

[Ron Baalke]

Oct. 5, 2009

Stephanie Schierholz 
Headquarters, Washington      
202-358-4997 
stephanie.schierholz at nasa.gov 

Jennifer Knotts 
Johnson Space Center, Houston 
281-792-7671 
norma.j.knotts at nasa.gov 

Greg Marshall 
Rice University, Houston 
713-348-6774 
greg.marshall at rice.edu 

MEDIA ADVISORY: M09-188

NASA HONORS JFK WITH MOON ROCK TO BE DISPLAYED AT RICE UNIVERSITY

WASHINGTON -- On the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the 
moon, NASA honored President John F. Kennedy with an Ambassador of 
Exploration Award for his vision and leadership in landing a man on 
the moon. The Kennedy family has selected Rice University to house 
and publicly display the award, a lunar sample, at Fondren Library. 
Kennedy called for a national initiative to go to the moon during a 
speech given at Rice University on Sept. 12, 1962. 

Michael Coats, a former astronaut and director of NASA's Johnson Space 
Center in Houston, will present the moon rock to Rice University 
President David Leebron on Saturday, Oct. 10, during a halftime 
ceremony at the Rice versus Navy football game. NASA astronauts 
George Zamka, a graduate of the Naval Academy, and Danny Olivas, a 
graduate of Rice, will serve as honorary captains for their alma 
maters during the game's coin toss. 

Game-day attendees can see and touch a moon rock and learn about the 
space shuttle, International Space Station and future exploration 
programs by visiting the agency's "Driven to Explore" exhibit. The 
exhibit will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CDT at the 
stadium's Tailgate Owley outside Rice Stadium Gate 3. Zamka and 
Olivas will sign autographs from 1 to 2 p.m. at the NASA exhibit. 

NASA is giving the Ambassador of Exploration Award to the first 
generation of explorers in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space 
programs for realizing America's goal of going to the moon. The award 
is a moon rock encased in Lucite, mounted for public display. The 
rock is part of the 842 pounds of lunar samples collected during six 
Apollo expeditions from 1969 to 1972. 

NASA Television will air a video file with highlights following the 
event. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video 
information, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 

For a transcript, video and audio of Kennedy's historic speech, visit: 

http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm 

For information about and pictures of the NASA Ambassador of 
Exploration Award, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/AofEphotos.html 

For more information about Rice University, visit: 

http://www.rice.edu 
	
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