NASA Coverage of Neil Armstrong Service at National Cathedral

Allard Beutel

Headquarters, Washington   

202-358-2191

allard.beutel@nasa.gov

WASHINGTON -- NASA will provide special live programming of the public memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral to honor the life and career of astronaut Neil Armstrong at 10 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Sept. 13. The memorial will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed online by the agency's and National Cathedral's websites.

NASA Television will air two high-definition feeds of memorial starting at 9:45 a.m. NASA TV's Public Channel (channel 101) will carry the service, complete with on-screen identification fonts of the participants. The agency's Media Channel (channel 103) will broadcast a clean feed. NASA TV's Education channel will carry the complete service in standard definition.

Also during the live broadcast of the service, NASA's Chief Historian, Bill Barry, will conduct an online chat on UStream that will provide additional information about the speakers at the memorial and their connection to Armstrong and NASA. To view the chat, visit the NASA Public Channel page on UStream at http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv.  

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, dignitaries, community and political leaders, members of the Armstrong family and members of the NASA family, including current and former astronauts, will pay respects to Armstrong.

Bolden, former Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow, and Eugene Cernan, the Apollo 17 mission commander and last man to walk on the moon, will offer tributes. Armstrong's Apollo 11 crewmate and command module pilot, Michael Collins, will lead prayers. Popular jazz singer-songwriter Diana Krall is scheduled to sing at the service. Other musicians include the U.S. Navy Band "Sea Chanters," the Cathedral Choir, and the Metropolitan Opera Brass. The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde will offer a homily in honoring the life of the first man to walk on the moon, who died Aug. 25.

Washington National Cathedral is a historic landmark symbolizing the role of faith in America and its iconography tells the stories that have shaped the nation's identity. Armstrong, along with fellow astronauts Collins and Buzz Aldrin, presented the National Cathedral with a moon rock brought back during their Apollo 11 mission. The presentation took place in a July 21, 1974 service commemorating the fifth anniversary of the first lunar landing. The iconic Space Window that later would display the sliver of lunar rock also was dedicated at that service. To learn more about the Washington National Cathedral, visit http://www.nationalcathedral.org

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

For additional information about Armstrong and his career, visit http://www.nasa.gov.

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