This past weekend I was at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. I was invited to the NASA Tweetup where space shuttle Atlantis launched on July 8 on its mission to the International Space Station. It was the final launch of a space shuttle before the program is retired.
What is a tweetup you ask? A Tweetup is a meeting of people who use the social messaging medium Twitter. 150 of us were invited from all corners of the globe.
I posted photos and other information from NASA Tweetup at my Twitter feed. You can see those tweets HERE
Here’s a quick summary of my first day:
First, my fellow Tweets and me introduced ourselves to each other and the press. It was an amazing collection of social networking gurus of all ages and platforms. I brought greetings on behalf of Jay and the entire Tonight Show staff.
Then we met several NASA spokespeople who described the Space Shuttle mission and opened the floor up for some Q and A. We had a special visit from Sesame Street’s Elmo as well as astronauts Mike Massimino and Doug Wheelock. Doug is a veteran astronaut who is still on active duty with the Army. He was scheduled for deployment in Afghanistan this week, but we were lucky enough to have him at the Tweetup. And I was lucky enough to snag a photo with him:
The day was interrupted by a Stage 2 thunderstorm and we had to stay in our tent because of a lighting warning. Lighting struck twice near the launch pad but Atlantis suffered no damage.
The skies cleared a bit and after lunch we were bussed out to Atlantis. Here is where was saw the Rotating Service Structure retract and reveal the Atlantis shuttle in all her glory. Quite a sight to be had (and you may have seen me tweet a photo of it!)
A little too big for Jay’s Garage don’t you think?
After that we had a tour of the Vehicle Assembly Building (this is the giant square building you usually see on TV). This is where they build and construct all the Shuttles and NASA spacecraft. The building was huge, and it’s a rare honor to walk inside. Here’s a photo of me standing in front of it:
On Day two we arrived early (5am) for more Tweetup activities.
There was a 30% chance of launch so expectations were low. Take a look of this shot of Atlantis on the launch pad before dawn and the countdown clock thereafter:
As the day went on it seemed more likely hour-by-hour that we could see a launch. We were shuttled out to wave to the astronauts as they drove in the Astrovan towards the launchpad.
Hours passed and eventually it was one minute until launch and we were all on pins and needles. The clock clicked down to 0:31 and then…. stopped! We all waited, knowing that this probably meant that the launch was scrubbed and we would have to come back the next day. After about two minutes of waiting and wondering, the clock being to countdown again. 3…2…1.. Atlantis shot out a cloud of white exhaust smoke from the right, and then to the left. Seconds afterwards the sound hit our ears (and our bodies). It lifted off, and the exhaust was now a stream of fire brighter than the sun. It lifted into the sky carrying a crew of four, crackling like a giant firecracker. And then it left en route to the International Space Station. I tweeted the entire time to make sure that you could see what was going on.
All in all it was a powerful experience. I met many amazing people and did my best to represent the show. Jay sent back a message to my fellow Tweets as well as to NASA. You can see that if you CLICK HERE.
And if you want a chance to participate in a future NASA tweetup, just visit their Twitter handle HERE.
Thank you for letting me take you backstage at NASA! And like I said on Twitter, I hope I brought you closer to this historic moment on behalf of Jay and The Tonight Show.
