Over 4,100 Twitter users asked to attend the last launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, on April 29, 2011. Only 150 were selected to participate. Thankfully, @socialmeteor is among them.
The Tweetup will take place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Tweetup will provide @NASA followers with the opportunity to tour the center, view the shuttle launch and speak with NASA managers, astronauts, shuttle technicians and engineers. The event also will provide participants the opportunity to meet fellow tweeps and NASA’s social media team.
This will be the 36th shuttle mission to the International Space Station. With the Shuttle program ending and manned flights decreasing, attending the launch is a rare opportunity to witness and capture a moment in history. Endeavour first flew in May 1992 on mission STS-49. Constructed as a replacement for Challenger, it was the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built.
During the 14-day mission, Endeavour will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a state-of-the-art particle physics detector being constructed, tested and operated by an international team composed of 56 institutes from 16 countries and organized under United States Department of Energy (DOE) sponsorship.
The payload will also include spare parts including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, micrometeoroid debris shields, and additional spare parts for Dextre (a two armed robot on the International Space Station). Endeavour will be decommissioned after the flight.
The STS-134 crew members are Commander Mark Kelly, Pilot Gregory H. Johnson and Mission Specialists Michael Fincke, Greg Chamitoff, Andrew Feustel and European Space Agency astronaut Roberto Vittori.
A White House official confirmed that the president, first lady and their two daughters will view the launch. It will be the Obama family’s first space launch (although he visited the Kennedy Space Center last year). Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, severely wounded in January during an assassination attempt killing six people and wounding 12 others, may also attend. Mark Kelly is Giffords’ astronaut husband.
Those who aren’t on-site can follow Tweetup activities in real time, by visiting the Buzzroom.
Credits: Image is courtesy of the MissionClock iPhone App. Keep up-to-date with space launches from NASA and other agencies around the world with MissionClock for your iPhone or iPod Touch. MissionClock shows you a real-time countdown clock for upcoming missions, as well as information about missions that are currently underway.
Question: Did you want to be an astronaut when you were a kid? We built a ton of spaceships out of old boxes when I was growing up. I was convinced that I wanted to be a pilot for the longest time — until I learned that my eyesight wasn’t good enough. With lasik surgery today, I wonder if vision is still the issue it used to be.
Our Last Endeavor
Video of the Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-123) launching on March 11, 2008 (2:28AM) from Space View Park in Titusville, Florida:
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