NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has opened accreditation for news media to attend the launch of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Launch will be aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) March 12, 2015. The 30-minute launch window opens at 10:44 p.m. EDT.

MMS is an unprecedented NASA mission to study magnetic reconnection, a fundamental process that occurs throughout the universe. Unlike prior missions which have observed the evidence of magnetic reconnection events, the MMS mission will have sufficient resolution to measure characteristics of ongoing reconnection events as they occur. It has the primary task of collecting data to understand the mystery of how magnetic fields around Earth connect and disconnect, explosively converting magnetic energy into particle energy via a process known as magnetic reconnection.  MMS consists of four identical observatories that will provide the first three-dimensional view of magnetic reconnection. The four MMS observatories will fly through reconnection regions in a tight formation in well under a second, so key sensors on each spacecraft are designed to measure the space environment at rates faster than any previous mission.

The mission observes reconnection directly in Earth’s protective magnetic space environment known as the magnetosphere. By studying reconnection in this local, natural laboratory, MMS helps us understand reconnection elsewhere as well, such as in the atmosphere of the Sun and other stars, in the vicinity of black holes and neutron stars, and at the boundary between our solar system’s heliosphere and interstellar space.

For U.S. media, the deadline to apply for accreditation to cover launch activities on Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is noon on Thursday, March 5.

International media without U.S. citizenship may request access to cover launch and associated prelaunch activities from the Kennedy Space Center only. The deadline to apply for credentials is 4:30 p.m. EST on Feb. 25. International journalists are required to submit a scanned copy of their "I" visa and passport. Green card holders must submit a scanned copy of their card. Scanned documents must be sent to jennifer.p.horner@nasa.gov for the credential request to be processed.

All media representatives must present two forms of unexpired, government identification to enter Kennedy. One form must be a photo ID, such as a passport or driver's license.

All media accreditation requests need to be submitted online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Questions about accreditation should be addressed to Jennifer Horner at jennifer.p.horner@nasa.gov, 321-867-6598 or 321-867-2468.

For more information about the MMS Program, visit:

http://www.mms.nasa.gov/

-end-