NASA Tweetup- Part 4- The Rest of the Tour

So after we left the VAB, we stopped at the famous Countdown Clock which just outside of the parking lot. This is THE Countdown Clock- the one that is in all of the press photos, directly across- 3.5 miles- from launchpad 39A. This was the view of the final launches of Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour.

Everyone was rotating out for a picture with the clock. Here is the thing- the field was infested with sandspurs. If you are unaware of what these hideous things are- they are these tiny little spiked balls of dead plant material- and they attach to anything that touches them. They are SHARP and they are in clusters. I knelt down to take a pic for a friend, and when I stood up the back of my pants had them scattered from my waist, down to my tennis shoes. I had to have some buddies pick them off for me...last thing you want to do is have a seat with a cluster of those attached to your pants.

This was a quick stop. We then proceeded on to Launchpad 41, where Curiosity will launch out on an Atlas V in November. The pad was empty, and they had a speaker, but the problem was that I have no tolerance for heat. None. At all. I am a northerner at heart, always will be and my tolerance for standing out in the sun is about zero. I tried to hide in the shade of a Hummer with another buddy out there, but it was too much, I started to get that nauseous buzzy feeling I used to get when I would ride horses at high noon in the dead heat of July when I was a kid. I went back on the bus to sit in the air and missed most of the guys speech. It was either that or pass out. I probably would have been fine if I wasn't still battling the sudden mystery illness, but my body was already being mean to me, and I did NOT want to risk getting sicker and missing the AWESOME afternoon lineup they had planned for us.

We then traveled to pad 17 where the Delta stood. Unfortunately, rollback of the tower would not be until that night, so all we could see was the rocket boosters and about 3/4 of the body of the rocket. Again, we were in the sun, and again, I went to the shade to stand with some others, but I couldn't take it. I was SO nauseous, and so ill feeling, I got on the bus and took an anti-nausea pill to try to quell the nausea. It was that bad, I thought I was going to have to miss the speakers. (At this point I am pretty sure it was more to do with being sick than the sun. The sun was being tolerated by everyone else, so I think I was just really super sensitive because I felt like crap).

Anyway, I got pics of everything I talked about here, I still have to sort through all these photos and figure out what site is the easiest and most organized for uploading them onto. It was an amazing tour, despite being sick. Thank goodness we got to see Endeavour first though, turning the corner and seeing that shuttle right in front of me was by far one of the most priceless, irreplaceable moments of my life. I am sure that I will go back as I am looking through pictures and write new entries as details come back to me too. I just want to get the gist of everything down here first before I forget! There is so much more to talk about!

The next few entries will be about the guest speakers, launch day 1, endless bbq, the planetarium, launch day 2, goodbyes, and one last meetup to hangout with my new pal Justine from the UK before she headed back across the pond!

NASA Tweetup, Part 3- Endeavour

This deserves it's own entry. 

Now, those of you who know me, know that one thing I was so sad I never got while the shuttle was in service, was a really good picture of me with the shuttle in the background. I had been anticipating the tour since the day I found out I was selected and the main reason was that the VAB being a tour stop meant it was highly likely we would see the shuttle inside. At this time, all the shuttles are in the process of being decommissioned, therefore they have been rotating in and out, and I knew Endeavour was in there currently.


Stop 1: Vehicle Assembly Building 


First, a quick background on the Vehicle Assembly Building, a.k.a. VAB. It was originally built to assemble the Saturn V rocket. This means it is HUGE. According to it's Wikipedia page:

 "The VAB is 526 feet (160.3 m) tall, 716 feet (218.2 m) long and 518 feet (157.9 m) wide. It covers 8 acres (3 ha), and encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet (3,665,000 m³) of space."

Take a minute to digest that. Now, the tour guide on our bus told us that when we walked in to keep walking because everybody stops when they first walk in because they are so amazed by the size of it. So, we unload and my heart is pounding, and in we go. 

It is impossible to control the jaw drop when you first enter. This building is like a nerd cathedral. I felt like dropping to my knees and crying. I don't think there is any way to accurately describe this building- all I know is that when I looked up, I got dizzy. It was almost like the feeling you get when you are really high up, but in reverse.

So next, we got to walk through the building. It was almost haunting in a sense, it was so empty. Banners with well wishes to previous shuttle missions, a wall with the signatures of all the ex-employees, mission emblems, all adorned the "walls" as we walked through. Then we get to the end of the hallway and turn left, and there she is. 

Endeavour. 

First, a backstory. Endeavour and I were not the best of friends before this day. Last year she toyed with my emotions when I went out to see her launch at 4:30 in the morning, just to have her scrub around T-5 minutes. This year, I got to see her launch, but she went up into the clouds within seconds and disappeared, so I resigned to the fact that Endeavour just wasn't ever going to be as dear to me as Atlantis, or my absolute favorite, Discovery. But Endeavour definitely redeemed herself. 

Even sitting there all torn apart, she had this grace about her, she was so stoic. Kind of like an apprentice who had fulfilled the expectations of their teacher, and exceeded them as well. The baby of the fleet, sitting there in front of me, I felt like she was grinning at me, as if to tell me, "Hey, you didn't think I was really going to let you down, did you?". I was speechless. I even have it on video! There is no other way to be. How else can you feel when you are sitting in front of one of the most profound pieces of American history? To know that only a handful of people will ever get this kind of encounter with a shuttle, I felt so, so very honored. 

They gave us a half an hour in the VAB. It felt like 5 minutes. Soon, they were rounding us up to head back out to the bus. As I backed away from Endeavour, I blew her a kiss. I don't care what other people think of me, although, this group would be the last of anyone to judge my actions. Endeavour earned her special place in my memories.

I did get some pictures in front of her, I then snapped away with my DSLR, but unfortunately, I lost all of the pictures I took up until I was walking out of the VAB. I will say this, the room Endeavour sat in was tiny compared to the rest of the VAB. Think of a bathroom in a mansion. That was the scale. 

On the way out, they showed us the wall where the ex-shuttle workers had signed. So many signatures, so many jobs lost. My wish for these people, is that our fellow citizens stop and reflect on just how dedicated these people were to their jobs. I know many people think they could have easily walked knowing the end was coming, but these are specialists, and these shuttles are their babies. To walk out on them before their time was through would have been an injustice. Each and every one of us should hope for the same thing out of a career for ourselves, as it was and forever will be their passion. I will leave it at that, as my opinions are not what this is about. 

I will say though, my most sincere thanks to all of the workers, the crews and the shuttles Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour, and of course to the lost crew and shuttles Columbia and Challenger. 

A dream of mine has been fulfilled, I could have been finished there and been satisfied with my NASA Tweetup experience. But they had way more in store for us...

NASA Tweetup- Part Two, Introductions

Day two has to be split into two, maybe even three blog posts. Between the tours and the guest speakers, there is so much to share. I am going to just talk about the first half of the day- the tours. Let the Tweetup begin! :)

I arrived at KSCVC around 8am. There were still people checking in and there was a crowd of attendees hanging out in front of the check in area. I found some people I knew and waited. They ushered us into the Debus center for introductions once everybody had checked in. Now we all had to take a turn standing up and introducing ourselves. We had to say our name, our twitter handle, and an interesting fact. I can talk up a storm, but in order to talk into a microphone, I have to be prepared- mainly because I can hear my voice and it always startles me. This was an incredibly diverse crowd. By the time it got to me, I just stood up (don't forget- over 150 people in the room) and this is basically what I said, "Hi, my name's Sherry Valare, my Twitter is @Catahouligan, I am a math and astronomy major. Oh and I own the dog." Of all the things I could say but hey, the good news is that I mentioned Pupples and the better news is that people knew what that meant.

Now, fast forward, introductions are over, and they announce it is time to head to the bus for the tours. We had four buses, I hopped on Bus 1 with some of my other buddies (and Bus 1 was definitely the cool bus, by the way). Moving right along...

The GRAIL NASA Tweetup-Part One

I am going to break this up into a few parts I will write over the next week or so. This event was so overwhelming, and I am still digesting everything. I met and conversed with a sampling of the greatest minds on this planet. I met Space Shuttle Endeavour. I sat at a BBQ and talked math and physics equations with my new buddies. I experienced things that most people will only ever get to experience via television or photograph. I played in a space-lovers candy shop paradise for a week and honestly it was one of the most gratifying experiences I will ever have. My mind is stretched by this, it can't be undone. NASA Tweetup, you rocked my WORLD! :) 

The first day of the Tweetup was credential pick up and the pre-event dinner  we all planned at Dixie Crossroads Restaurant. I woke up Tuesday morning really sick. I was nauseous and throwing up, and I honestly thought it was going to ruin the whole week for me. I felt horrible, but I went out to pick up my stuff anyway. When I got to the press building on SR 3, I checked in and was given my awesome Tweetup badge and my swag bag. All sorts of fun NASA and GRAIL logo adorned items, would make any fan super happy. At this point, it got real. It made it quite easy to ignore the fact I felt like falling over. 

The Press Accreditation Building

Next up on the agenda was dinner. Time to meet a ton of people. I had some time to kill, and it was unseasonably cool outside, so I headed over to Spaceview Park and took a little 20 minute snooze on a park bench on the water. When I opened my eyes the Vehicle Assembly Building was the first thing I saw. 

 

My NASA Tweetup Badge

I headed over to Dixie Crossroads, and dinner was fantastic. I met around 60 people in one sitting, and the energy in the room was exhilarating. The conversations you have when surrounded by a mass of people who share the same exact passion as you, are fantastic. On top   of that, you already "know" these people in theory, so it was just a super fun night. Just a note, Dixie Crossroads serves these corn fritter things- either eat one or prepare to ruin your diet. They are addictive! 

The night slowly came to a close, I felt like I had at least introduced myself to everyone there, and it was time to head home and get some sleep. The next morning we had to be at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex by 8:30am for day one of our actual NASA sponsored activities. 

In hindsight, unless you are a veteran of these things, there was absolutely nothing that could have fully made me comprehend the things I was about to see and the people I was about to meet over the days that were to follow. 

My "Endeavour".

There is SO MUCH to tell about this week. To summarize, amazing sights, amazing conversation, but mainly AMAZING PEOPLE! Well...and this...

Yep. That is ME with ENDEAVOUR!!!! I am standing just a few yards from a space shuttle. It rendered me speechless if you can believe it.

Poster Project

A little shout out from a once in a lifetime location never hurt anybody. :) Look in the lower right hand corner of that poster. (Thanks again "Rocketman" for your thoughtfulness!) Details on this to come later, but my mission is clear! You will see people, you will see! 

(And YES that is the REAL ATLANTIS and there is a signature on that belongs to ME!)

"NASA Invites 150 Twitter Followers to Lunar Launch "

Media Release of our event from NASA:

News release: 2011-276                                                                     Sept. 1, 2011

NASA Invites 150 Twitter Followers to Lunar Launch 

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at: 
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-276&cid=release_2011-276

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA has invited 150 followers of the agency's Twitter accounts to a two-day launch Tweetup Sept. 7-8. The Tweetup is expected to culminate in the launch of the twin moon-bound GRAIL spacecraft aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The launch is targeted for 5:37 a.m. PDT (8:37 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 8. The two GRAIL spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail from crust to core. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about the moon and provide scientists with a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

Tweetup participants were selected from more than 800 people who registered online. They will share their Tweetup experiences with their followers through the social networking site Twitter.

Participants represent the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Spain and the United Kingdom. Attendees from the U.S. come from 32 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Beginning at noon PDT (3 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, Sept. 7, NASA will broadcast a portion of the Tweetup when attendees talk with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; Jim Adams, deputy director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington; Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge; Sami Asmar, GRAIL deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Frederick P. Rose Director at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium in New York. To watch the broadcast, visit:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tweetup . The event will also be streamed live, with a moderated chat, at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

Participants also will tour NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, including a close-up visit to the launch pad.

Reporters interested in interviewing Tweetup attendees should contact Stephanie Schierholz at 202-358-1100 or stephanie.schierholz@xxxxxxxx. Reporters interested in covering the afternoon program Sept. 7 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex must secure access through Andrea Farmer by 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. EDT) Sept. 6 at 321-449-4318 or afarmer@xxxxxxxxxx.

Previously, NASA invited groups to attend the launch of the Juno spacecraft on its way to Jupiter and five space shuttle launches: Atlantis' STS-129, STS-132 and STS-135 missions, Discovery's STS-133 mission and Endeavour's STS-134 mission.

To follow participants on Twitter as they experience the prelaunch events and GRAIL's liftoff, follow the #NASATweetup hashtag and the list of attendees at: http://twitter.com/nasatweetup/grail-launch

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the GRAIL mission. For more information about GRAIL, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/grail or http://grail.nasa.gov .

To connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/connect .

Veronica McGregor 818-354-9452
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
veronica.c.mcgregor@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Stephanie L. Schierholz 202-358-4997
Headquarters, Washington
stephanie.schierholz@xxxxxxxx