Space Tweets

My story begins last month as my girlfriend, Jennifer, and I donned shades, filled the cooler full of icy beverages and made a 12 hour road trip to sunny Florida. Our mission: to witness one of the last launches of the U.S. Space Shuttle program, and the last launch of the shuttle Atlantis. Due to a number of factors NASA is retiring the current shuttle program after 30 years of missions, so we were struck with the sense of urgency that this was it - no more shuttles as we know them. Our generation grew up dreaming of space and the shuttle was the icon of that vision, so we knew we had to finally make it out to see one.

We were fortunate to acquire tickets to the NASA causeway, which is a strip of land and roadway, located on Kennedy Space Center property, that runs across the Banana River south of Launch Pad 39A. The NASA causeway is the closest and best public viewing site (6.5 to 7 miles) for Space Shuttle launches; tickets are required and they sell out fast. The view is unobstructed and is mostly water between you and the launch pad. Prior to 2002, thousands of tickets were given away for free and people could drive up in their cars to watch the launches, as many as would fit on the causeway. However, due to security concerns, since 2002 tickets are purchased and viewers are bussed out to the causeway.

The day of the launch we arrived at KSC at 5am, the entry time indicated on our vehicle placard. We traversed the sights, sounds, tours, and history as we waited for 10:30 a.m. - the time the busses started moving people to the causeway. After the bus ride over, we set up our collapsible chairs and umbrellas right by the water's edge with thousands of other enthusiasts to wait out the 3.5 hours until launch.

The day so far was awesome, but we were there to see the shuttle take off. An unfortunate downside of shuttle launches is that depending on the weather or other problems, a launch can be scrubbed up to the last minute. My girlfriend had been to a launch when she was younger and it was canceled just before launch. We read stories online of folks who'd made it this far several times before only to have the launch canceled. We even sat by an elderly gentleman and his wife who'd tried seven times to successfully witness a launch!

Despite it being an absolutely beautiful, perfect-weather day, we were all still a little nervous about it being canceled. The causeway was lined with loudspeakers broadcasting commentary and updates from the nearby Kennedy Center, but wasn't very audible and sounded more like the teachers in the Charlie Brown animated specials - "Wah waaaaah-wah, wah-wah-waaaaaah." Three and a half hours is a long time to wait without updates.

Twitter to the rescue! To my surprise, NASA does a fantastic job of tweeting updates on shuttle missions and NASA news in general. So I with my handy iPhone and Jennifer with her Blackberry, we pulled up NASA tweets and were able to keep up with what was going on, how things were coming along with the launch status in general, and relay that to the people sitting in our area. Actually there was one moment when it was tweeted about some trouble with a ball bearing on a camera inside the shuttle bay. We were all nervous, but it was later deemed in working order and the launch proceeded. We followed on Twitter right up to the last minute, then somehow we were all able to hear the final 10 second countdown clearly from the loudspeakers. It was really cool to hear everyone counting down the last seconds.

And… we have liftoff! Of course, it was amazing and awe-inspiring. The ground shook, even from 6 miles away, and the crackling roar of the rockets filled the air, along with cheers of "wooooooohooooo" from the crowd. How can one not be inspired by the sight of man being propelled into space?

After the launch we were able to follow the mission via Twitter updates while relaxing on the beach the following few days. Talk about convenient! It was great to see NASA embrace a new public communication tool to keep its enthusiasts up to date and in the know about space endeavors. I'm not sure why I was surprised, considering NASA remains on the forefront of developing satellite and data transmission technology, which passes down to us in the technology we use every day.

As popularity and usage of Twitter continues to soar, it's no longer just a platform for friends to stay connected in real-time, or just an important component of brand marketing, it's also a means to virally spread news and events across the globe as they happen, much faster than traditional news media could ever keep up with. Consider in January 2009 when Flight 1549 crash landed into the Husdon River in New York - within minutes witnesses were tweeting photos which spread like wildfire across the internet before the rest of us knew what was going on. Or right here at home in Nashville, on May 1st, 2010, while we were watching devastating flood waters rise, the digital community was buzzing with up-to-the-minute reports of the situation around town, what roads were flooded, where to go for shelter, etc. and continued to be a major resource of information the first few weeks after for donation links, where to volunteer to help, community needs, and clean-up efforts.

For whatever purpose, Twitter has forever changed the way and the speed at which we're able to receive information, and that's just cool.

Closeup photo by NASA. All other photos ©2010 Jennifer Oatsvall.