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STS-133 NASA Tweetup
November 23, 2010, 10:25 am View Comments
(Photo credit: NASA/Paul E. Alers)
I started writing about the NASA Tweetup nearly a dozen times now. I’m having trouble encapsulating exactly how profound of an experience it was, maybe because I’m still wrapping my head around it.
In the weeks leading up, a group of very organized people coordinated the rental of a vacation house, which we dubbed the Big House. The enthusiasm people had in the Google group and on Twitter was infectious. I didn’t know anyone, but I was excited to dive in and meet them. Within a matter of hours of arriving, we were family. These are new friends I will keep for the rest of my life.
At Kennedy Space Center, we saw things that aren’t normally available to the public. The launch was delayed multiple times, and then eventually scrubbed, but Stephanie Schierholz, the tweetup organizer and our personal superhero/rockstar, coordinated extra activities and more unforgettable moments than we could have dreamed. What was originally a three-day trip was extended into a week-long experience that, for lack of a better term, changed my life. We saw the inside of the Vehicle Assembly Building. We visited the launchpad at sunset. We explored the Kennedy Space Center visitor center at leisure and rode the Shuttle Launch Experience multiple times. At the Big House, we stayed up late, forged new relationships, played music, laughed harder than any of us had laughed in a long time, ate, drank, and basked in the presence of some of the most creative, smart, fascinating people I had ever met.
I am working on a much longer post about the whole week, but in the meantime, my friends Raam and Tallulah both wrote incredibly stirring pieces that express the spirit of the experience much better than I can right now. It’s absolutely required reading. We also had no shortage of photographers on hand, so be sure to check out my Flickr set as well as the tweetup group.
As of right now, NASA plans to launch Discovery no earlier than 2:52 a.m. on December 3. Stephanie informed us that our badges will allow us into the press area during this new launch window. (See? She’s still our superhero.) So, presented with this astonishing opportunity, I will head back down to the Space Coast next week. There’s no way I could miss this.
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Thanks, Mom and Dad, for introducing me to space
October 27, 2010, 5:22 pm View CommentsI owe a lot of my interest in science and space exploration to my parents. Growing up, my Dad took me on field trips to explore planets and stars through telescopes in the dead of winter. My first up-close look at the Moon knocked my socks off. We put down blankets in the backyard and counted meteors during showers. My parents bought subscriptions for me to kids’ science and space magazines, and I once got to spend a summer at the the Maryland Science Center’s planetarium in Baltimore.
A few years ago, when Mars and the Earth were closer to each other than they’d ever be in our lifetimes, my dad and I gazed at the Martian polar ice caps through his telescope. It was stunning.
Just this past May, I was lucky enough to road trip down to Florida with my sister and father to watch my first-ever space shuttle launch, the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, STS-132. Right now, I’m beside myself with excitement for the NASA Tweetup this weekend.
I’m so thankful that my parents introduced me to space at a young age. Just a few minutes ago, I got this email from my dad:
The date for the next launch draws near and I’m excited even tho I’m not going! So I thought you might like to see this pic of your space shuttle toy that I found cleaning up today. Still in great working condition!
0:-)
I totally remember this toy. It was one of my favorites. Right now, I kind of want to go home and play with it.