NEW ORLEANS, LA., 06-APR-01 -- New Orleans college and high school students are competing today and tomorrow (April 6 & 7) in the “Great Moonbuggy Race” at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The students are members of Engineering Explorer Post 314 sponsored by Lockheed Martin. As their project this year, the scouts built three moonbuggies that they’re racing against competition from 20 other states.

** Editors -- NASA Television will feed a “live” interview at 3 p.m. (Central Time) with the New Orleans male and female high school students who raced the moonbuggies today. Footage of their race will be fed following the interviews. The highlights will come down on GE-2, Transponder 5C at 85 degrees west longitude with a frequency of 3880 MHz and audio of 6.8 MHz.

Each moonbuggy must be pedal-driven by one male and one female scout and must fold up into a space no more than 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 4 feet long to simulate the original moonbuggy. The Explorer scouts race over a ? mile obstacle course of simulated moonscape terrain that test students’ design and engineering skills as well as their physical endurance. The moonbuggy race is a timed competition.

Last year the New Orleans high school team in its first year of competition won the award for best design. The students represent the following schools:

• Brother Martin High School
• De La Salle High School
• Eleanor McMain Magnet Secondary School
• Faith Christian Academy
• Grace King High School
• Holy Cross High School
• Immaculata High School
• John Ehret High School
• McDonogh No. 35 High School
• Mt. Carmel High School
• Redeemer-Seton High School
• Slidell High School
• St. Bernard High School
• Xavier Prep. High School

Lockheed Martin designs and builds the Space Shuttle External Tank at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.