NASA officials will hold a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT today to discuss the agency’s progress on the Space Launch System (SLS), the heavy-lift rocket under development to take humans beyond Earth orbit and to Mars.

Participants in the teleconference will be:

-- Robert Lightfoot, NASA associate administrator

-- William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate

To participate by phone, reporters must contact Stephanie Schierholz or Joshua Buck at 202-358-1100, stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov or jbuck@nasa.gov and provide their media affiliation no later than 3 p.m.

The teleconference will be streamed live on NASA’s website at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

SLS will be the world's most capable rocket. Designed for crew or cargo missions, the SLS will be safe, affordable, and sustainable, to continue America's journey of discovery from the unique vantage point of space, taking astronauts farther into space than ever before.

For more information about SLS, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/sls

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