GRAIL NASA Tweetup, Part 5- The Guest Speakers!

I am just going to make a list. I don't know how else to do this without getting more off track than I know I will as it is. Follow me!? Just a few notes first. So somehow I ended up on camera practically the entire time. I had people texting me during the program watching on UStream telling me to wave, commenting on how excited I looked, telling me to give them shout-outs, telling me to wake up. I did not realize the cameras would be right in my face, I thought they would be taping from behind us, and the speakers would be up on the podium. No. For  the most part, they speakers stood about two feet in front of me, or paced back and forth in front of me. Wanna talk self conscious? Ha. Try being out in the Florida heat all day, with serious makeup meltdown, while all tired from taking an anti-nausea pill whose main warning is drowsiness. But I am a champ. And it was nice and cold in the room, so I was able to just kinda curl up inside my rain jacket while I sat there. 

So the speakers: 

1. Charles Bolden (NASA Administrator)

2. Nichelle Nichols (surprise!) (Played Lt. Uhura on Star Trek)

3. Jim Adams (NASA Deputy Director, Planetary Science)

4. Maria Zuber (GRAIL Principal Investigator)

5. Sami Asmar (GRAIL Deputy Project Scientist, JPL)

6. Doug Ellison (Eyes on the Solar System demonstration)

7. Sally Ride Science team (MoonKam presentation)

8. Vern Thorp (Manager, NASA Programs, ULA)

9. Stu Spath,(Chief Spacecraft Engineer, Lockheed Martin)

10. NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON!!! (Astrophysicist, Frederick P. Rose Director at the Hayden Planetarium- this guy was Pluto's demise! :) 

So Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is what I aspire to be. This man has passion, he is a fireball, he is enthusiastic, he is realistic, logical, no-nonsense, etc. He is an ambassador for science/math literacy. He also used my water bottle for his demonstration, and in response to something he was saying about humans, I responded under my breath "Apathetic" and he heard me but thought I said "Pathetic" and the entire room got a laugh out of it. Including him. :) 

Also, Charles Bolden called me smart. He asked the room if anyone knew when the next manned spaceflight and cargo spaceflight were going to happen, and of course because I am an avid follower of SpaceX, my hand shot up and I told him 2014 for manned and November for cargo. He pointed his finger at me and said, this girl is smart. So I retorted with, good, give me a job, to which everyone, including him, laughed. And I responded again with, "No, I am serious I need a job!!!" 

:) 

I got to interact with them a lot. Sami Asmar and I got into a little discussion about an equation he had on his powerpoint during a break. Not often you get to talk math with a project scientist from NASA! 

Also, I LOVED the presentations on the MoonKam and Eyes on the Solar System. Two really, really cool projects- I will have to get links. I will likely do a blog with links and explanations to a lot of really neat stuff. I learned SO much in a matter of a few hours. 

After everything was over, we did a group photo under the mock Soyuz. Lots of our speakers even got in the picture! After that, I got to meet Neil deGrasse Tyson, have a picture with him and I had him sign my lanyard. He was SO SO SO nice. Down to earth, loved hugs, was just so involved with us. He didn't act like he was above us, he just educated us. It was fantastic and he is SUCH an awesome story teller. When I walked away from him, I told him to remember this face, I will be working with him one day! :) a

Again, I am sure as I finish this blog, there are details that are going to come up that I forgot, there was so much packed into the day. Just remember, starting with seeing Endeavour to this point is the entire day. It was almost intellectual overload, I felt like I was walking in a dream. I mean, if you know me, you know I was in my element to the max. 

So that was the official first day, or unofficial second day of the Tweetup. I headed home and got there around 9pm. And I had to be up at 4am the next morning to be back out at NASA to get on the tour bus to go to the launch...

One more thing- here are a few of my favorite quotes from the day:

"Math is extremely import. In fact if you don't study algebra, you're not setting the right path in my mind-you're not setting the right path for yourself. Regardless of whether you go into science or math... if you end up being an artist or poet... it is important you have the ability to understand the world around you and analyze that." 

-Jim Adams

"It will change our understanding of who we are in the universe."

-Jim Adams (Speaking about the possibility of finding life on Europa)

"It (Atlas V) leaped off the pad with authority and pushed Juno on to Jupiter, but in all my career I've never seen a rocket launch so beautiful, so powerful, as a Delta II launch"..."Delta 2 is like a tall lady pushing her babies off into space"

-Jim Adams

"He has at least forced the public dialogue" 

-Charlie Bolden (Speaking about Barack Obama)

"Nothing is impossible. If you can imagine it, dream it, you can do it."

-Nichelle Nichols