Vice President Pence to Visit NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for Update on 21st Century Space Exploration

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Vice President Mike Pence will visit NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Monday, Sept. 25. The Vice President will tour Marshall to get an update on the progress of the Space Launch System rocket and International Space Station science operations as the agency prepares for missions to deep space, around the Moon and ultimately to Mars.

Media who wish to cover the Vice President's visit must contact the Marshall newsroom at 256-544-0034 no later than 5 p.m. CDT, Sunday, Sept. 24. Media should plan to arrive Monday at 11:45 a.m. at the Redstone Arsenal Visitor's Center at Gate 9 for security screening and badging. Transportation to the media event will be provided from the Visitor's Center.

The Vice President will tour Marshall's Payload Operations Integration Facility, where all scientific research aboard the station is managed around-the-clock, 365 days a year. This research is helping people learn how to live and work in space for long periods. The Vice President will see a test with the engine section of the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage --the largest rocket stage ever built for the world's most powerful rocket. The four RS-25 engines and the two solid rocket boosters that attach to the engine section will produce more than 8 million pounds of thrust to help send the Orion crew vehicle farther than any human-rated spacecraft has ever travelled before.

While at Redstone Arsenal, where Marshall is located, Vice President Pence will visit the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center for briefs from Army leaders on current missile defense projects and Army initiatives. Redstone Arsenal is an Army installation with a workforce of around 41,000 active duty military, government civilians and contractors. The arsenal is a Federal Center of Excellence, hosting components of more than 70 government organizations, including NASA, Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency, FBI, and Department of Justice.

Get more information about Redstone Arsenal at:

https://www.garrison.redstone.army.mil

Get more information about how Marshall Space Flight Center is hard at work building the SLS rocket and the technologies and systems needed to send astronauts into deep space at:

https://www.nasa.gov/marshall

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SOURCE NASA