Stephanie L. Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4997
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov
Alicia Durand
Sesame Street
212-875-6223
alicia.durand@sesame.org
RELEASE: 11-211
NASA INVITES 150 LUCKY TWITTER FOLLOWERS TO FINAL SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH
WASHINGTON -- The final launch of the space shuttle program is
scheduled for 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8, and NASA has invited 150
followers of the agency's Twitter account to be there. People
selected will have a behind-the-scenes perspective from the press
site at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA randomly selected the participants from more than 5,500 online
registrants during a 24-hour opportunity on June 1-2. Attendees
represent 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Australia,
Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain,
Switzerland and the U.K.
Tweetup participants are coming from Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New
York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington,
West Virginia and Wisconsin.
They will share their experiences with their more than 1.5 million
combined followers through the social networking site Twitter.
Beginning at 10:30 a.m. on July 7, NASA will broadcast a portion of
the Tweetup when participants get to talk with Bill Gerstenmaier,
associate administrator for Space Operations, astronaut Mike
Massimino and Angie Brewer, space shuttle Atlantis' flow director at
Kennedy.
Joining them will be a special guest, Sesame Street's Elmo. Sesame
Street will be at Kennedy to film Elmo, as he learns about space
exploration at NASA.
To watch the broadcast, visit:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasatelevision
Participants also will tour Kennedy; make an up close visit to the
launch pad, and wave at Atlantis' crew members on their drive to the
launch pad. The Tweetup culminates with the shuttle's lift off.
Reporters credentialed to cover the launch also may cover the NASA
Tweetup at Kennedy's press site. Reporters interested in interviewing
Tweetup attendees in advance should contact Stephanie Schierholz at
202-358-1100 or stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov.
This is the fifth time NASA has invited Twitter followers to
experience a space shuttle launch. Previously, groups attended lift
offs of Atlantis' STS-129 and STS-132 missions, Discovery's STS-133
mission, and Endeavour's STS-134 mission.
To follow the Tweetup participants on Twitter, as they experience the
prelaunch events and shuttle liftoff, follow the #NASATweetup hashtag
and the list of attendees at:
http://twitter.com/nasatweetup/sts-135-launch
All four of Atlantis' crew members are posting updates to Twitter. You
can follow Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission
Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim at:
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Ferg
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Doug
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Sandy
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Rex
To connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites,
visit:
For more information about space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 mission,
visit:
-end-
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