March Madness for Space Geeks

By Nancy Atkinson - March 9, 2009 at 10:57 AM UTC | Site News
mission-madness.jpg

Have you ever looked on with envy at your office mates' brackets and (illegal) betting pools for the NCAA basketball tournament but you don't know the difference between a jump ball and a jump shot? Well, now there's a bracket just for you: March Mission Madness. And it's a showdown of epic proportions, plus it's not even against the law to participate (as long as no money is changing hands!) With NASA's March Mission Madness, you can enjoy intriguing matchups, story lines and buzzer beating drama. Beginning today, March 9th, NASA fans will be able to view the lineup of 64 NASA missions, learn about mission goals, and vote for your favorite missions, as well as predict which missions your fellow space geeks and nerds will vote for during this single elimination tournament. There will even by play-by-by commentary from

Miles O'Brien

and

Keith Cowing

. Sound like fun? Here's how to participate:

How to Play

There are two ways to participate in the 2009 Mission Madness Tournament. First, visit the website,

http://www.nasa.gov/missionmadness

, from March 9th - 18th to learn which missions are competing head to head, print your bracket and make your predictions. You can print out as many brackets as you like to evaluate endless winning scenarios.

Second, return to the website and vote for your favorite missions during each round, starting on March 19. You are allowed to vote for your favorite missions as many times as you like, so be sure to support your favorite missions to help them advance deep into the tournament. As voting is completed for each round, the winning missions advance allowing you to see how your predictions compare to all of the voters. Round one features 32 predetermined matchups. Each round consists of two days of online voting with the winning missions advancing in head to head competition. Fans will be able to vote for their favorite missions as many times as they like while polls are open, with the very first Mission Madness Championship Winner determined on April 8th, 2009.

Here's the tournament schedule:

March 9th - 18th Brackets available on the web site with the head to head line-ups for each region.

March 19th - 20th Round 1 Voting

March 23rd - 24th Round 2 Voting

March 26th - 27th Sweet Sixteen Voting

March 30th - 31st Quarter Final Round Voting

April 2nd - 3rd Semi Final Round Voting

April 6th - 7th Final Round Voting

April 8th NASA EDGE names 2009 Mission Madness Winning Mission

Source:

NASA

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com