Will Oversee Competition At Wirefly X-Prize Cup In Alamogordo, NM

The six judges from the 2006 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, with more than 200 years of space experience between them, will return to judge the competition at this month's Wirefly X-Prize Cup, representatives with the X-Prize Foundation tell ANN.

They will decide a winner of the competition and other elements of the $2 million prize. The judges, and some career highlights, are:

• Ed Bock, Retiree and Consultant to Lockheed Martin. A former VP of Atlas Program and Manager of Lunar Resource Utilization for Space Construction Study. Bock was responsible for 40 consecutive successful Atlas launches in five years, and is the former manager of the NASA Lunar Resource Utilization for Space Construction Study, Shuttle/Centaur Program Office, and the Tomahawk Cruise Missile
• Richard C. Dunne, Consultant to Northrop Grumman Corporation. Dunne is a former Public Affairs Officer for Grumman Corporation during the production of the Apollo Lunar Module. He also worked with American Airlines during transition into jet era
• Bill Gaubatz, Co-founder and President, SpaceAvailable LLC. Gaubatz is the former head of the DC-X rocketry program, as well as Former Executive VP of the X Prize Foundation. He originated and managed development of the Delta Clipper reusable spaceplane system concept
• John Herrington, VP of Rocketplane and Former Shuttle Astronaut. In 2002, Herrington flew 14 days on Endeavour, the 16th Shuttle mission to the ISS. He is also a former Navy Patrol Plane Commander, Mission Commander, and Patrol Plane Instructor Pilot
• S. Pete Worden, Center Director for NASA's Ames Research Center. Worden is a Brigadier General in the US Air Force. and Former Director of Space Command. He received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for directing the 1994 Clementine lunar probe mission
• Jeff Zweber, Air Force Research Lab's Space Vehicles Directorate. Zweber is former Chief Technologist for the Haley's Scaled Demonstrator Program, and former Area Coordinator for the National Aerospace Initiative Office of the Director for Defense, Research and Engineering

The Wirefly X Prize Cup is the result of a partnership between the X Prize Foundation and the State of New Mexico, to build the world's first true rocket festival. For 2007, the event has partnered with Holloman Air Force Base to produce an action-packed Air & Space Expo.

FMI: www.xprizecup.com