Many of you have seen me tweeting lately about the NASA Tweetup. Since this is not something that is not a typical part of Bears on Patrol, I would like to let you know what it’s about and why I am going.
NASA has been hosting tweetups for each of the shuttle launches, allowing 150 randomly-drawn participants to take part in an amazing experience at Kennedy Space Center. While each tweetup is different, they generally involve listening to people in various capacities at NASA, including astronauts, as well as some people from the “outside world”. Jason Goldman (@goldman), the former VP of Product at Twitter, was a speaker at the last tweetup. NASA Tweetups attendees also get to tour KSC and generally see and do things that the general public does not often (or ever) get to do. This already amazing experience is capped off with the opportunity to view the shuttle launch from the press site, the closest point a person can get to the launch.
I have become friends with several people from the STS-133 NASA Tweetup and have heard their experiences and seen their pictures and videos. Having been a huge space and NASA fan most of my life (OK, you can say “geek”!), I knew I also wanted to attend the tweetup. As I mentioned, NASA only selects 150 people. They open a registration page for 24 hours for you to join the “lottery”, and then you wait. In my case, it turned out that I waited, and then waited some more. I was put on the “wait list” for one round of selections without hearing anything. Finally, on Wednesday, I received the following email:
Dear Blake Raab,
Congratulations, your registration has been selected to attend the NASA Tweetup at space shuttle Endeavour’s targeted launch April 18-19 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida! The event will provide you the opportunity to speak with shuttle technicians, engineers, astronauts, and managers, and to experience the launch of space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station.
Now why am I attending? This is primarily a personal trip for me. I would like to emphasize that Bears on Patrol’s funds are NOT being used to pay for this trip. However, I will be taking Fuzz Aldrin, our teddy bear who will be traveling to near space in a balloon to raise awareness for BOPS (more about his mission here). I’m not sure I’m allowed to officially advertise or promote anything there, but, unofficially, I will have informal conversations with anyone who wants to know about the bear and what we’re doing.
I encourage you to follow us on Twitter (@BearsOnPatrol) and we will do our best to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience with all of you through Tweets, pictures, and video.
