When I went to #NASATweetup for the final Shuttle launch, I was also featured on The National – and because of that, my family and I were fortunate enough to have a short reel of Super 8 film transferred to digital.  The clip was also used on the broadcast.  It’s pretty amazing to see the difference in technology in the twenty-nine years between the two launches… even if my footage is really really bad.  The fact that I shot it on my PHONE is astounding alone.
Here’s what my dad shot …

One of the best parts of touring Kennedy Space Center at the #NASATweetup for Atlantis’ last launch was getting a look inside the VAB – the Vehicle (originally Vertical) Assembly Building. The VAB (not Vee-Eh-Bee as I initially thought, but Vuh-Ah-Buh, like it’s a word) was first built to assemble the Saturn V Rocket for the Apollo program, then used to mate the Shuttles with their fuel tanks, place them on the mobile launcher and the crawler, and send them out to the launch pad. We were all accordingly in …

I did a little rundown of #NASATweetup at work to let people know (in general terms) what I thought NASA did that made these events so successful.  Since I haven’t had much of a chance to go in-depth with my trip yet, and since I do a lot of work in social media and community building, I thought I’d share my thoughts.
Supporting and Expanding the SpaceTweeps

First off, NASA brings in as many people as they can for each Tweetup, but it’s obviously not as many people as want to go. …

With the Space Shuttle Atlantis safely landed after its last flight I thought I’d put together a quick post in what seems to be a reoccurring segment where we learn how Nixon may have done some good despite all of his misdeeds.
While it was President John F. Kennedy that got the ball rolling vowing that America would beat the Communists to the Moon after the Soviet Union successfully put Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit and attained the distinction for first manned space flight, and while his successors Lyndon Johnson …

In honour of Nic’s trip out to the NASA Tweetup and the last launch of Atlantis, I thought I would mentioned NASA’s still in the business of space exploration – despite what all the media has had to say to the contrary – and that they’re also going to be performing another first by putting one of their probes in orbit around a protoplanet in the Main Belt.
The Dawn spacecraft after a four-year voyage on its ion thrusters will be entering orbit around Vesta sometime around 10PM PST later tonight. …

During our cruise we’d originally set out with a bit of a food theme, treating ourselves to a sitting at the chef’s table and a cooking lesson when we were in port at Cancun. Instead hurricane Paula rolled through, and we ended up getting diverted to Nassau. Ironically we’d opted for the original set of destinations, not seeing Nassau having much more to offer than the spectacle that’s Atlantis.

Unfortunately shore excursions are typically pricey, and Atlantis maybe even more so. If you were staying for an extended stay, then maybe …