As you know by now I had been looking forward to going to the NASA Launch Tweetup for several weeks. I got in to the central Florida area around 11pm on Wednesday, May 12th. After getting my rental, driving to my hotel and trying to wind down I finally went to bed around 2am. The next morning I got up around 7:15 took a quick shower, ate a quick breakfast, and made my way to the Kennedy Space center.
After second guessing myself and making a few wrong turns I arrived at Press Credential Check-in site around 9:05. I was supposed to arrive between 8-9am, thankfully I was definitely not the last one as was evident by the number of badges remaining on the table. I headed to the Press Site where I would be spending the next two days. I had to go through one of same guard stations that thousands of NASA employees go through every day. One of the guards verified my badge and let me through. My instructions were to drive towards the Vehicle assembly building. On my first pass I missed my turn-off and went about 3 miles too far. I was able to turn around and make my way to the site though. I showed my credentials once again to get in to the parking lot for the site and My car was parked by 9:30. What was amazing to me is how close I was to the VAB. I was literally one parking lot away. You typically don't even get that close on the bus tours.
I took the time to take a view photos as I walked up to the tent. I will say I was a little disappointed at first with how far away the launch tower was. As the day wore on and the haze faded I realized it was closer than I realized and I am sure that tomorrow it will be incredible. Once I was inside the tent it took me a while to find a spot to sit as most spots were already taken. I had to sit in a far corner with no good line of site to the podium or the monitors. Due to some technical difficulties the speakers started a little late, and in the meantime we listened and watched a press conference that was going on in a building only 100 yards away. So far things are still extremely favorable for a a 2:20pm ET launch. A few small showers are expected in the morning, but it should clear up quickly.
The activities ended up starting at 10:30am instead of 10am One of the communications directors in Space Operations opened up welcoming us. He explained how the event came together and that originally we were going to be viewing from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's complex, but due to logistical issues it was moved to the Press Site. None of us had any complaints. He then starting asking trivia questions to test our knowledge. Additionally he introducted all the ambassaders who were participating and were here to assist us.
Bobby Braun, NASA Chief Techonlogist took the stage around 10:40. He talked about how he was inspired by seeing the Viking lander set foot on Mars in 1976, and knew that was what he wanted to do. He was able to achieve that and he has worked on Mars Pathfinder and other Mars landers. Currently, he is a faculty memeber at the Georgia Tech. I found out later one of the other event attendees took one of his classes last semester. He continued on that his job focuses on future technologies and what needs to occur to with those techonologies to meet NASA's current goals such as landing on a asteroid by 2025. He feels the new program is about getting America to the cutting edge, contrary to what some have said in the media. He also felt the new approach is broader instead of focusing on single milestones like how the old programs.
At 11am Janet Voss, astronaut takes the podium. Encourages us to be ambassaders to our friends and family and peers that NASA is headed in the right direction. She feels exploration can happen in a lot of differnt ways. She took a moment to introduce the names of all the members of STS-132. Explained her experience with the Shuttle's version on email and how she was using it wrong and thought no one was contacting her from the ground. It turned out she had 3 days worth of messages and she had just been looking at the wrong folder. She admitted it was a relief to her to get those messages. She didn't realize until then how important it was for her to be able to communicate with her family.
11:20 Stephanie Stilson. Processing director for Shuttle Discovery. In charge of the check-out procedures after landing, and prior to launch.
11:30 John Cowart (@Rocky_Sci) Orbiter engineer Did what he called a magic tick to distill what NASA is about. Had a particpant cut a deck of cards, then he shuffled it. Had her take the top 2 cards, showed them to us, then stuck them back in the deck. He was able to pull them back out. "They figure out the magic in Nature" In answer to another attenedee's question he jokingly said, NASA's biggest mistake was not taking him as astronaut after applying 3 times. He also admitted he had no plans on giving up that pursuit.
Around Noon Ron Woods, an Equipment specialist, spoke for a little bit. He talked about his experience with developing and working on spacesuits over the last 40 years. He has worked on way too much to list. Jim Lovell's Apollo 8 suit. The was a round of thank you's for him as well as for the people who organized the tweetup. We took about a 45 minute break before we started our afternoon activities.
On the afternoon tour we went the International Space Station Center, the Saturn V complex, and toured a few other miscelaneous spots at KSC, that you get to see during a visit to the visitor's center bus tour. We arrived back at the press site around 4:30pm and took a short break before experiencing the highlight of the day.
We boarded the busses once again to experience the highlight of the day: viewing Shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad from only 500 feet away. I really wish I could descibe how amazing it was to see that. I never thought I would get to see the shuttle from so close. I could probably go on and on, but I will let the following photo do the speaking.
Space Shuttle Atlantis waiting on the pad for STS-132