For some time, I have been aware of my selection for the NASA TweetUp for the FINAL shuttle launch. For various reasons, I haven’t said much publicly about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of history! Here’s my public reaction for “The Space Crowd” film…hope I “make the cut” instead of the floor.
Especially, I’ve been working on a social media aggregation http://NASATweetUp.info after not having done any for over a year so I’m a little “rusty”, but I finally have a version which is ready for “soft” launch. On the “General” tab, read “How to participate” which explains how you may either merely access or contribute (via crowdsourcing) content.
Although I’ve been aware of NASA TweetUp as an avid Twitter user, STS-135 is the first launch for which I actually applied for NASA TweetUp. For STS-133, the first launch after my recent move to Florida, it completely slipped my mind! I resolved to apply for STS-134, but did not realize that the application window was only 24 hours so I missed that opportunity. Realizing that STS-135 was my last opportunity to apply for a shuttle launch, I applied shortly after NASA began accepting applications and subsequently learned, to my absolute delight, that I was one of the fortunate 150 successful applicants out of more than 5500 tweeps!
As I have learned more about my fellow participants, I have been impressed by the diversity and passion of the group. I am humbled by how much some of them know about the shuttle program as well as how far some of them are traveling to attend (someone is coming from Australia!) since I live so close. I knew much more about the Apollo program which occurred while I was a student at Purdue, “mother” of astronauts, and I did see an Apollo launch many years ago. That memory has caused me to wonder if I’m the oldest participant after I realized that some of my fellow participants weren’t even born yet when fellow Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon! I’ll let you know if I find out.
Likewise, I witnessed STS-133, my first shuttle launch, from the beach in Titusville so I was somewhat “disappointed” that I was unable to HEAR the shuttle because I was so far from the launchpad. I have been assured that I will not be disappointed this time because we will witnessing history from the press viewing site which is only 3 miles from the launchpad! I hope the crowd noise doesn’t drown out the shuttle!
