NASA Invites Public To Tweet Their Way Into Space Next Week
HOUSTON -- The Twitterverse and universe will converge during space
shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space
Station. NASA is inviting the public to send questions for the
astronauts via Twitter and have them answered live from space.
Astronaut Mike Massimino will be accepting questions for the crew from
the public via his Twitter account until Thursday, Feb. 11. Massimino
will be a shuttle Capcom, or spacecraft communicator, at NASA's
Mission Control in Houston during Endeavour's flight, scheduled for
launch Feb. 7.
At 2:24 a.m. CST on Feb. 11, Massimino will host an interactive event
with the crew from his console in Mission Control. He will ask the
astronauts as many submitted and live questions as practical during
the 20-minute event. The shuttle will be docked to the station during
the live question and answer session. The event with Endeavour's crew
will be broadcast live on the Web and NASA Television.
The public is invited to start tweeting questions for Endeavour's crew
today to Massimino's Twitter account, @astro_Mike, or add the hashtag
#askastro to their tweets.
Endeavour's 13-day STS-130 mission will include three spacewalks and
the delivery of the Tranquility node, the final module of the U.S.
portion of the station. Tranquility will provide additional room for
crew members and many of the space station's life support and
environmental control systems.
Attached to Tranquility is a cupola, which houses a robotic control
station and has seven windows. The windows will provide a panoramic
view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecraft. After the
node and cupola are added, the orbiting laboratory will be
approximately 90 percent complete.
The time and day of the Twitter session are subject to change due to
mission priorities. Updates to the NASA TV event schedule are
available online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttletv
For additional NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink
information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For information about Endeavour and the STS-130 mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle
Source: NASA
