Nationwide Classroom Video Conferences Commemorate 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Mission

• By Scott Aronowitz
• 11/16/09

Seizing an opportunity, and an occasion, to bring students from all over the United States together using technology it helped pioneer, NASA this week is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing with a full school week of interactive video conferences to share the event's history with students.

Each afternoon from Nov. 16 through Nov. 20, NASA's Digital Learning Network will connect students throughout the country with its own employees who had special connections to the historic mission, speaking live from various locations.

The video conference topics will be:

• Nov. 16, Langley Research Center, Langley, VA: Aerospace pioneer John Houbolt will talk about his own experiences with the development of the "Lunar Orbit Rendezvous."
• Nov. 17, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL: Students will learn "how a rocket taller than the Statue of Liberty was constructed for peaceful space exploration and why its presence tipped the scale of the space race in favor of the U.S."
• Nov. 18, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL: An exploration of America's spaceport, home of the Apollo 11 launch site.
• Nov. 19, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX: Participants will learn about the astronaut corps and take a virtual tour of Mission Control, the nerve center of communications and operations for all NASA space flights.
• Nov. 20, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA: Discussion of the future of the space program, including a possible return to the lunar surface and exploration of the solar and system and the universe beyond the moon under the auspices of the Constellation Program.

All events will begin at 1 p.m. EST and are available for public viewing at the Webcast site here.