I’m currently sitting in my hotel room in Cocoa Beach, Florida eagerly awaiting the start of the STS-132 Launch Tweetup, which begins tomorrow and culminates on Friday with the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. For those of you who don’t know, NASA Tweetups are events held around the country where NASA opens its doors to those who follow and interact with us on Twitter. 150 participants were randomly selected from the pool of registrants for this particular event, and it looks like it’s going to be a blast!
We start off early tomorrow with talks from Robert Braun, NASA Chief Technologist, and Astronaut Janice Voss, among others, before boarding buses for a tour of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. With luck, we’ll be able to stop by Launch Pad 39A to watch the retraction of the Rotating Service Structure and see Atlantis in all its glory mere hours before it takes to the skies. On Friday, we’ll hear from a weather officer from the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron and a STS-132 closeout crew member, just to name a few, before watching the launch of Atlantis at approximately 2:20 p.m. Eastern time.
View of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and launch countdown clock from the NASA Tweetup site earlier today. Thanks to Beth Beck for the picture.
Of course, even if you’re not here on the Cape, you are more than welcome to take part! Participants are using the hashtag #nasatweetup on Twitter to share details of what they are doing – expect tons of great images, quotes, and more to appear. I’ll also be roaming around with my handy video camera capturing video interviews of attendees to be posted on YouTube. If that’s not enough for you, all of the speakers and demonstrations done at the Tweetup will be streamed live on the internet for all to see.
Tons of people have put in lots of time and effort to make this event happen, and its looking to be a great time for all, both for those here in Florida and for those following along on the web. Of course, Tweetups aren’t the only time NASA uses social media to interact with the public – check out https://www.nasa.gov/connect/index.html to find out all the ways to stay informed!