Mars Curiosity / NASA Tweetup / I GOT TO MEET BILL NYE!
November 30th, 2011 | By 49
Saturday we (meaning NASA and JPL) successfully launched a new Mars rover named Curiosity. It’s about the size of a Mini Cooper. This ton sized mini-monster truck of science will look for building blocks of life on our neighborly red planet. I got to watch this bad boy go up in an Atlas V rocket. How? I was invited by NASA to be a part of their Tweetup. Me and 149 other Twitter followers of the space program from around the world met up at the Kennedy Space Center. We inhabited a huge tent on the press site right by the iconic Countdown Clock. It was awesome. I could mention a ton of people but I tried to keep the shoutouts to a minimum. I don’t feel it would be fair to leave so many cool people out! (and there were so many cool people)
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friday
Early in the morning I drove over from Tampa, Florida and checked in, got my #NASATweetup badge, some sweet swag and drove to press site. Coming around a corner I saw the Vehicle Assembly Building rising up from the Florida landscape. It was very much like how I was in Batavia, Illinois and drove around a corner to see Fermilab’s Wilson Hall rising from the prairie! I wondered what the Kennedy Space Center would look like if Robert Wilson worked in huge rockets instead of tiny particles and put his sculptor’s eyes into design like he did at Fermilab. I had to stop in a parking lot across from the VAB to get a picture or two before continuing to the press site. I unpack my car, set up some free funky49 Starblazer CDs to give to my fellow tweeps, set down some water that was part of this years hurricane supplies and go visit the Countdown Clock. This is where I meet my first new space friend, Margaret aka mlm101! We talk for a bit and take each others pictures and exchange swag. I can’t wait to see the pic she took of me jumping in the air in front of the clock! Back in the tent I introduced myself to my tablemates (after discovering our first table had no power to it!) and we had a few presenters, introduced ourselves to the entire group and had a break. I think it was on this break were I went to some bleachers and ran into Tom Tomorrow (I call him the print version of Jon Stewart!) and Halfastro Rob (who was once at Fermilab!). After the break we had more presenters. This section was actually recorded on the NASA UStream channel. We had a lunch break where I didn’t know I was hungry until I started making myself eat. I could have just survived on the science! After lunch, we got onto Kennedy Space Center buses and went to… the VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING! It was amazing. Read up on it. After being amazed by the shear volume of this building it had one extra surprise. The Space Shuttle ENDEAVOUR was parked inside being prepped for the California Science Center! MADNESS! One of the NASA reps actually had to remind me to get on the bus because I was taking pictures of some signage just inside the VAB.
EDIT: Speaking of the VAB, check out this PhotoSynth of being inside the VAB with the Endeavour visible. Can you spot me taking pictures?
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We took off for our next destination. What would it be? Launch pads? The Saturn V center? We drove by Launch Complex 39A which still has the Space Shuttle tower on it. Did you know the upper portion of the Saturn V umbilical tower was removed from the Apollo Mobile Launchers and serve as the “Fixed Service Structure” for the Space Shuttle? We drove past Launch Complex 41 which held our girl… boy? the Atlas V with the Mars Curiosity inside! The bus driver didn’t slow down so it was gone pretty quickly. Disappointing. We drove by Launch Complex 40 which is being used by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Launch Complex 37A which is used for Delta IV launches. The bus turned around and we headed back… or were we? We pulled into Launch Complex 40 and got to see the Atlas V up close just outside the fence perimeter! AMAZING! SEXY! BEAUTIFUL! This was NOT disappointing! This was a great treat. This Atlas V had 4 solid rocket boosters on it. I noticed that they were attached in an off-axis formation around the rocket. I got to ask Doug Ellison why. It’s because the center of gravity. Doug explained it like balancing a pencil on the tip of your finger.
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We had to get back on our bus, got to idle by LC39A and drove to the final destination, the Apollo / Saturn V Center. Since I saw this the last time I was at KSC I did some gift shopping. I still took a few pictures of the Saturn V they have floating in the big part of the building. It never gets old looking at the rear end of a Saturn V rocket! I always remember being at KSC (I think as a Boy Scout) and riding the bus. I rememember looking out the window and seeing the Saturn V… the bus would drive on… you’d look out the window again… more Saturn V…. the bus keeps driving… you look again… MORE SATURN V rocket! It is a beast! Back then they had it outside and I wondered “Why don’t they bring it inside?”. Hey! Thanks for bringing this monster inside and giving it a good home.
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From there I used social media to find where dinner plans are (I choose a local seafood restaurant over a chain), made a motel reservation near the dinner spot and had fun conversing with a different set of NASA Tweetup folks. After some necessary food and beer (some IPA from Hawaii, maybe I like certain IPAs now?) I dipped for the motel on Cocoa Beach. If I had more time/energy I would have hit the beach but I was beat. We were due for a group photo at 6:45am the next day!
saturday
I start the day like I did before. Oatmeal, parfait and McMuffin from McDonald’s. I try to contain my frustration at the family in front of me ordering 20 McMuffins because I just wanted to race towards KSC! Driving onto NASA property I crank up the dubstep. What else would a Mars bound roving robot listen to but DUBSTEP?!? I plug back into the NASA Tweetup matrix and my sub-group heads towards towards the Press Briefing Room where my favorite, cheeky presenter Doug Ellison talks about Eyes on the Solar System. It gives visualization of unmanned spacecraft’s mission data. I’m partial to the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes because of their gold records. I imagine they are two disc jockey ambassadors for planet Earth. We also get to hear a really nice astronaut speak (Doug Wheelock) in addition to BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY!
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The groups come together and we listen to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden speak followed by another astronaut (Leland Melvin) and Deputy Directory Lori Garver. Who’s after that? Oh, just will.i.am of rapper/producer/Black Eyed Peas fame. No bigs. NO BIGS? Yes bigs! After will.i.am spoke about wanting to make STEM cool for kids he had to take off for photos and his own tour of KSC. Here was my chance! I had put a demo of the Dirty Apes Discover Science album on a thumbdrive, had a Starblazer CD and funky49 business card at the ready. While I surveyed the scene looking for a respectful opening I was told by a NASA rep (who I won’t name because they were very nice and I don’t want you to have a bad impression of them) “Leave him alone”. The NASA rep was trying to sheepdog a few people walking towards will.i.am and more were inbound! They were slightly exasperated and just doing their job. I wasn’t disappointed. If there wasn’t a shot to talk to him, there wasn’t a shot. I did give my thumbdrive/cd/card for the nice NASA rep to possibly give will.i.am. I’m sure he gets music pressed in his hand all the time. I DID get to shake hands with and have my picture taken with Bill Nye the Science Guy. He also got a copy of Starblazer. I was so nervous, I forgot to say that we were both presenting at the 2012 USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC! I’ll try to talk to him in DC next year and say hey, remember me from the NASA Tweetup?
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Why were we all here again? Not for astronauts, scientists or rappers. We were here for the MARS CURIOSITY! It was closer and closer to launch time and it was cool being by the Countdown Clock. Speaking of, somehow I am the Foursquare Mayor of the FREAKING ICONIC Countdown Clock. I just started using 4sq and I’ll have to stop now because that can’t be topped. It was suggested that if this was your first rocket launch, to not bother with a camera and just take it in. I did that but not before setting my humble Canon SD800 to continuous shot. (Everyone had sweet Canon or Nikon DSLRs or point and shoots with phat glass). Everyone either stood or went to the bleachers. I did something different. I laid down in the grass. I test fired the camera a few times and waited for the countdown. I heard cheers before I saw the rocket. Like THAT it had kissed the sky and was in the clouds. Then a wave of sound overtook the area. It was crazy, disorienting and wonderful. I went back to the tent and caught the NASA video feed. One of the things I did before leaving the Tweetup tent was set my laptop to record video. It was pointed to where some NASA folks were and I want to hear what it caught.
The rocket flame was SO BRIGHT. It’s like we harnessed a solar flare. I wish I had my sunglasses on me because I wasn’t prepared for how brilliant it was! After the launch things wound down. I took some peeps over to the KSC Visitor Center. I walked around for a bit, chilled while regarding the Rocket Garden and built an Atlas V inspired Lego rocket at the Lego event at KSC. Who came up and talked with me while I was building with Lego but Margaret? She hipped me to a full scale model of the Curiosity next to a Spirit/Opportunity and the Sojourner rover. Sojourner is about the size of a oversized microwave. Spirit/Opportunity look the size of what I thought a Mars probe would be. Curiosity is a Mars rover on BEAST MODE. Clearly the scientific heavyweight champ is inbound to Mars right now. I can’t wait for August. I’m popping some cheap champagne. I leave my new friend Margaret who was also the first person I met on this journey and head towards Orlando to join some friends I rarely see in a non-performance setting for dinner.
I shall close with one of my tweets: “NASA was the BEST host. The rocket went up like a BEAUTY. I’m humbled by the GREAT people surrounding me”
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2011-November-NASA Tweetup gallery
2011 November 30 – Astronomy Picture of the Day - This photo of the Atlas V/Mars Curiosity is beautiful!
The Half-Astrophysicist Blog – Rob’s account of the Tweetup. We gave each other shout outs!
