Lunar Rover at the 2009 Inaugural Parade

Lunar Rover at the 2009 Inaugural Parade
President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden watch as the NASA Lunar Electric Rover stops in front of the Presidential reviewing stand on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The crew of STS-126 join representatives from across the country and the nation's armed forces in the 56th Inaugural Parade. The NASA contingent will include a next-generation lunar rover that astronauts could use for future exploration of the moon.

Astronaut Mike Gernhardt will drive the rover; while Astronaut Rex Walheim, wearing a spacesuit, will ride with him. The Lunar Electric Rover is a concept vehicle about the size of a pickup truck that NASA is evaluating for use when humans return to the moon and has the ability to house two astronauts for as long as 14 days. NASA will record video during the parade from a camera mounted on the lunar rover. A member of the lunar rover team will provide live updates to the NASA News Twitter feed throughout the event.

NASA photographers and videographers will document the agency's participation in the inaugural activities. Images will be posted online at the agency's Web site when they become available.

NASA Television will air a video file of the parade footage and the video recorded on the rover as soon as possible following the parade's conclusion. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

To access the NASA News Twitter feed and other agency Twitter feeds, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate.

For more information about NASA's Lunar Electric Rover, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/LER.html

For information about STS-126 and the next space shuttle mission in February, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.


http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/NASA_56th_inaugural.html