U.S. Social Media Followers Invited to Celebration for the World’s Longest Running Earth-Observing Satellite Program

WASHINGTON — NASA invites 25 of its U.S. social media followers to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Landsat program. Attendees will take part in the official NASA press conference at the Newseum in Washington, DC; receive behind-the-scenes tours of the Landsat mission control center and satellite engineering and test facilities at NASA’s Goddard Flight Center; speak to Landsat mission scientists and engineers and join a group to choose and create their very own Landsat image.

Registration opens at noon EDT (9 a.m. PDT) on Wed., May 30, 2012, and closes at 5 p.m. EDT (2 p.m. PDT) on Mon., June 4. NASA will select 25 participants and put 25 others on a wait list. Because parts of this event will take place at a NASA research center with restricted areas, registration is limited to U.S. citizens over the age of 18.

The celebration event will take place from 10 a.m. to approximately 7:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 23.

NASA and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available data over the Internet. Landsat measurements make up the longest continuous space-based record of the Earth’s surface in existence. The measurements allow scientists and land managers to monitor a wide variety of Earth events including agricultural patterns and water use, urban growth, and the health and extent of Earth’s forests. The next satellite in the program, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, is scheduled to launch in January 2013.

For more information about the NASA Social and to register, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/social

For information about connecting and collaborating with NASA, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/connect

For information about the Landsat mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/landsat and http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/