May 1, 2008

Grey Hautaluoma
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0668


Nancy Neal Jones
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-0039


RELEASE: 08-110

SEND YOUR NAME TO THE MOON WITH NEW LUNAR MISSION

WASHINGTON -- NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar
exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the
moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

The Send Your Name to the Moon Web site enables everyone to
participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit
around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their
information at http://www.nasa.gov/lro, print a certificate and have
their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a
microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline
for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes
part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy
project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to
return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there
first. How cool is that?"

The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology
demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever
returned from the moon. The mission will focus on the selection of
safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also
will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans.

LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's features and
resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds a planned
lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration
while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is
scheduled for launch in late 2008.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is being built at Goddard. The
mission also will be managed at the center for NASA's Explorations
Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

Send Your Name to the Moon is a collaborative effort among NASA, the
Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., and the Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

To send your name to the moon, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lro


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