Stephanie Schierholz/Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4997/0668
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov , grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov

Katherine K. Martin
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
216-433-2406
katherine.martin@grc.nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M08-055

NASA OFFERS ARES I-X MEDIA OPPORTUNITY AT GLENN, MARCH 13

CLEVELAND - Reporters are invited to NASA's Glenn Research Center in
Cleveland on Thursday, March 13 at 11 a.m. EDT to view a full-scale
element of NASA's Ares I-X rocket. The test launch and flight of the
Ares I-X in April 2009 is a critical milestone in the development of
NASA's Constellation Program that will send astronauts back to the
moon.

Reporters will be able to see and climb inside the 18-foot wide,
45-foot tall simulation of the Ares I upper stage, which was designed
and manufactured at Glenn. The simulated element represents the size,
outer shape and mass of the second stage of the Ares I rocket. Media
also will receive an update of NASA's Ares I-X Project and a tour of
Glenn's Fabrication Shop.

The full scale upper stage element will be tested and have
instrumentation installed before it is integrated with the other
parts of the Ares I-X vehicle for the test flight. The finished
elements also represent the completion of the first manufacturing
activity at Glenn of a full-scale launch vehicle demonstrator in two
decades.

Glenn's director, Woodrow Whitlow, Jr., will participate in the
briefing and be joined by Vince Bilardo, project manager for the Ares
I-X elements at Glenn and Therese Griebel, chief of Glenn's
Manufacturing Technologies Division.

Media wishing to attend this event should contact Katherine Martin at
216-433-2901 by 4:30 p.m. on March 12. For more information about
Ares I-X work at Glenn, visit:

http://spaceflightsystems.grc.nasa.gov/LaunchSystems/Simulator

For more information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation