Stephanie L. Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-4997
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov
Veronica McGregor
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-9452
veronica.c.mcgregor@jpl.nasa.gov
RELEASE: 11-255
NASA INVITES 150 LUCKY TWITTER FOLLOWERS TO LAUNCH OF JUPITER-BOUND SPACECRAFT
WASHINGTON -- NASA has invited 150 followers of the agency's Twitter
account to a two-day launch Tweetup Aug. 4-5. The event is expected
to culminate in the lift off of the Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft
aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in
Florida.
The launch window opens at 11:34 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 5. The
spacecraft is expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2016 to investigate
the gas giant's interior, atmosphere and aurora. Juno's color camera
will provide close-up images of Jupiter, including the first detailed
glimpse of the planet's poles.
Attendees represent 28 states, the District of Columbia and five other
countries: Canada, Finland, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.
NASA randomly selected the participants from more than 1,200 online
applicants.
Tweetup participants are coming from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. They will share their
Tweetup experiences with their followers through the social
networking site Twitter.
Beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 4, NASA will broadcast a
portion of the Tweetup when participants get to talk with Waleed
Abdalati, chief scientist at NASA Headquarters; Jim Adams, deputy
director, Planetary Science, NASA Headquarters; Scott Bolton, Juno's
principal investigator; Steve Levin, Juno project scientist; Juno
Science Team members Toby Owen, Fran Bagenal, and Dave Stevenson;
Steve Matousek, Juno proposal manager; Jan Chodas, Juno project
manager; and Chris Brosious, chief systems engineer for Juno at
Lockheed Martin. To watch the broadcast, visit:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasatelevision
Participants also will tour NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape
Canaveral, including a close-up visit to the launch pad.
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 first time NASA has invited Twitter followers to
experience the launch of a planetary spacecraft. Previously, NASA
invited groups to attend five space shuttle launches: Atlantis'
STS-129, STS-132 and STS-135 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 Juno's liftoff, follow the #NASATweetup hashtag
and the list of attendees at:
http://twitter.com/nasatweetup/juno-launch
You can follow the Juno mission on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the
mission. For more information about Juno, visit:
To connect with NASA on Twitter and other social networking sites,
visit:
-end-
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