THe FINANCIAL -- NASA will host a news conference at 1 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Jan. 17, to announce the names selected from a nationwide student contest for twin spacecraft that will study the moon in unprecedented detail. The event will be held in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, located at 300 E Street SW, in Washington, according to NASA.

Nine hundred schools and more than 11,000 students from 45 states, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, participated in the contest that began in October 2011.

The agency's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory spacecraft successfully achieved lunar orbit on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, respectively. The status of the spacecraft and upcoming plans for science operations also will be discussed.

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