Amazing!

We haven't received our itineraries for the Tweetup yet, but still some neat news as of the last week.

Dr. Sally Ride *will* be at the Tweetup!! She was the first American woman to go into space, along with many other great accomplishments.(You can read more about her here)I really, really hope we get a chance to talk to the guests one on one, I have so much I want to ask her about her life, about her career, about overcoming adversity. I am so stoked!!

I derive my inspiration and motivation to keep going for what I want from people who go the distance, overcome difficulty, reach out to others, make a difference in the world. You only get one shot at life, and there is SO MUCH I want to do in mine, so naturally, I admire her because not only has she has accomplished so much for herself, she pays it forward as well.

The Tweetup is less than two weeks away now. I feel like the sights I am going to see, the people I am going to meet- it is going to be an overwhelmingly fantastic week.

(And I KNOW Endeavour is sitting in the VAB just waiting for me to unleash my photographic skills on her forever beautiful self. ;)

Also, I am wishing, hoping, dreaming, that we get to see the Falcon 9 up close. I love SpaceX, and I saw the inaugural flight of this rocket last summer and I would love to be in its presence.

I still feel like this is a dream! 

Three weeks to go until GRAIL launch!! (and of course, the Endless BBQ!)

"Your request submitted on 08/16/2011 has been Approved.

Event: GRAIL Launch Tweetup (Confirmed NASA JPL Invitees ONLY)"


I got my NASA security clearance this week. I feel like I should be able to list this on a resume or something. Is there anything more badass than saying that you got clearance by a government agency that has an outpost full of men with big guns guarding the Canaveral Seashore NASA property line so that people can't sneak in and hitch rides to space? Of course not! Now it is just a waiting game...

We also found out this week that the #EndlessBBQ is a GO! It will be held at Cocoa Beach Brewing Company on launch day in the evening. (Time/Date subject to change though!) Follow @EndlessBBQ on Twitter for details.

It also looks like our Tweetup will be a little different than the last ones. We will have our tour in the morning, and be at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex after lunch for the guest speakers. We also pick up our badges at KSCVC. A detailed itinerary has not been given to us yet, but they did give us  those bits of information. They also have not announced where we will be viewing the Delta II launch from, although some speculate we will be watching from KARS park.

IF YOU ARE VIEWING THE LAUNCH OFF SITE: Go to the LISATS point to watch. I will give you directions if you need them and there are maps available on the LISATS website under launch operations. (I linked to their home page below) This will give you an amazing view of the launch, it is a really close view and you should be able to see it clear the pad since you can set up on the hill that builds up the overpass. You will probably get pretty close to the same view as us. If I had to guess, I would say it is around 5 miles from the launch pad, but don't depend on me, I am horrible at estimating distance.

If you go there, look for my pals Roy Hill and John Oster with LISATS. Tell them I sent you! These guys know NASA- Click here to learn more about LISATS (be sure to click on "launch operations" too)

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Pupples Wonderdog Valare's presence at the #GRAIL #NASATweetup has been requested by a fellow attendee. She must respectfully decline, as there is no way she will pass the background check. You see, she has a little problem shoplifting cow hooves off the bottom shelf when we go to Petco.... Pupples is a Catahouligan ;) She said to tell NASA that if they build a dog park, dogs will come!

Media Release For NASA Tweetup

MEDIA RELEASE

St.Cloud Resident is One of 150 Selected to Attend NASA Tweetup for Launch of Twin Lunar-Bound GRAIL Spacecraft Sept. 7 - 8, 2011

NASA Twitter Followers Will Tweet from Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

St. Cloud, Fl. August 15, 2011 - NASA will bring together 150 Twitter followers to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for a two-day Tweetup, Sept. 7 - 8, 2011, for the launch of twin lunar-bound Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. St. Cloud resident Sherry Valare has been selected as one of 150 @NASA Twitter followers to attend and Tweet the event. The launch window opens at 8:37 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Sept. 8. The two GRAIL spacecraft will measure the moon’s gravity field from its crust to core and provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

As a NASA Tweetup attendee, Valare and the other 149 Twitter users will interact with engineers and scientists from GRAIL and other upcoming NASA missions as well as tour the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. If all goes as scheduled, participants will view the spacecraft launch. In addition, the Tweetup will allow participants to meet other tweeps and members of NASA’s social media team. Attendees were selected through a lottery system in which more than 825 @NASA Twitter followers registered.

“When I got the email I was in a state of shock for about three days! My dream is to work for NASA eventually,” Valare said, “and the Tweetup is an amazing way to network and gain a deeper understanding of launch operations and the research being conducted on the mission."

She is currently studying Mathematics and Astronomy, and this will be her first NASA Tweetup. Follow her Tweets at twitter.com/catahouligan.

NASA Tweetup participants are traveling from across the United States and the globe to attend. View the list of list of registered attendees on the NASA Tweetup Twitter account: http://twitter.com/NASATweetup/grail-launch 

NASA held its first Tweetup on Jan. 21, 2009, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA’s Tweetup Twitter account is http://twitter.com/NASATweetup and participants will be using #NASATweetup in their updates while tweeting. Information about NASA Tweetup can be viewed on http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup .

About the GRAIL Mission

The two GRAIL spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field from crust to core. The mission will answer longstanding questions about Earth’s moon and provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

GRAIL's lift off is the third of four space missions launching this year under the management of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Aquarius launched June 10 to study ocean salinity; Juno will launched Aug. 5 to study the origins and interior of Jupiter; and the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity rover heads to the Red Planet no earlier than Nov. 25. Visit http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail for additional information about GRAIL.

And So It Begins!

"Congratulations! You have been selected to attend the NASA Tweetup on Sept. 7-8 in conjunction with the launch of the twin GRAIL spacecraft!

The two-day event will provide you the opportunity to tour the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; speak with scientists and engineers from GRAIL and other upcoming missions; and, if all goes as scheduled, view the spacecraft launch. The launch window opens at 8:37 a.m. EDT on Sept. 8.

I am going to see GRAIL launch atop the Delta 2 rocket in about 3 weeks!! A few days ago I received this email, and I have been walking on sunshine ever since! 


Alright, here is the deal. I never, and I mean NEVER, win things. I occasionally get to do some pretty cool things in my life because I get the hook up from some really selfless people, but random chance, "luck of the draw", was never something I was good at. There are no words that can truly express how excited I am. I absolutely adore rocket launches, NASA, space exploration, the universe, the people I have met via this passion, all of it. 


***A HUGE THANK YOU to @NASA, and all the folks that handle the @NASATweetup for this incredible opportunity. ***


You can follow my GRAIL NASATweetup adventure on Twitter (@catahouligan) on September 7 and 8.


"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." 


Stay Tuned!! :)