Press Release: SpaceX Commercial Resupply Mission to ISS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ronnie Williams
Tel: 832.409.1209
Ronnie.williams24@gmail.com
@techgurumiami
MEDIA RELEASE

Miami-Dade County Resident is One of 50 Selected to Attend NASASocial Tweetup for SpaceX Launch, October 7, 2012.
NASASocial Followers Will Tweet from Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

(7 October 2012) – NASA will bring together 50 Twitter followers to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for a two-day Tweetup, October 6 and 7, 2012. The Tweetup is expected to culminate in the launch of the SpaceX Dragon 9 space craft, the first of 12 commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station. Miami-Dade County resident Ronnie Williams has been selected as one of 50 @NASASocial Twitter followers to attend and Tweet the event. The Dragon 9 space craft is anticipated to arrive at the International Space Station Wednesday October 12.

After docking procedures have completed, Astronauts will unload the supplies and then load materials and experiments for its return journey to Earth.

As a NASASocial attendee, Ronnie Williams and the other 50 Twitter users will interact with engineers and scientists as well as tour and have exclusive access to Kennedy Space Center. If all goes as scheduled, participants will view the spacecraft launch. In addition, participants will meet other tweeps and members of NASA’s social media team. Attendees were selected through a lottery system in which many @NASASocial Twitter followers registered.

“I am pleased to be selected to observe NASA taking another big step,” Williams said, “I am shocked that so many people think NASA is out of business, I get to carry a very different message and perspective to my base and hopefully inspire a few people along the way.”

He is an Air Force veteran and this will be his second trip to the area facilities as a civilian. He works as an operations manager for a satellite broadcasting company in Miami. He has disciplines communications, computer science and in the aviation field and has kept an eye on all things aerospace for many years. Follow his Tweets at http://twitter.com/techgurumiami.

NASASocial participants are traveling from across the United States and the globe to attend. View the list of list of registered attendees on the NASASocial Twitter account: https://twitter.com/i/#!/NASASocial/spacex-crs-1/

NASA held its first Tweetup on Jan. 21, 2009, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA’s Tweetup Twitter account change and rebranded as NASASocial very recently. It is now http://twitter.com/NASASocial. Participants will be using #NasaSocial or #NASATweetup in their updates while tweeting. Information about NASASocial can be viewed on http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup.

About SpaceX CRS-1
SpaceX CRS-1 is the first of at least 12 missions to the International Space Station that SpaceX will fly for NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. In December 2008, NASA announced that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft had been selected to resupply the space station after the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. Under the CRS contract, SpaceX will restore an American capability to deliver and return significant amounts of cargo, including science experiments, to the orbiting laboratory – a capability not available since the retirement of the space shuttle.

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Words cannot express the impact this experience was

I wanted to say thank you once again to the #NASATweetup organizers, NASA, JPL, Launch Services, ULA and everyone that I had the opportunity to share this unique and enriching experience with. I did not have the pleasure of meeting everyone personally; but I am certain but your tweet, questions posed to the presenter, random conversations between events on some level made a contribution to my experience that will never be created. I have always been excited about aerospace and being here only reinforced my passion for it and I now find myself looking at the future like a child; but able to have a cogent remark about it as an adult. I have already engaged with my family and friends and after sharing just a fraction of what we all shared I can see their eyes light up. I am happy to be a #NASATweetup alumni and will continue to be a “booster” for NASA in all its “Endeavors” and in the process hope to pique peoples “Curiosity”.

“the sky is not the limit.” Will.I.am (26nov2011) #SYSTEM

"the sky is not the limit"

Day one at the MSL #NASATweetUp

Like many I had some expectations about this day and they were completely surpassed. It was a day of wonderment, intrigue, knowledge and the experience of a lifetime. Without being there and or having a borderline unhealthy appreciation and admiration for space exploration it’s hard to put in to words what today made one feel.
I personally went through a series of emotions and the People at NASA, JPL and ULA were the cause of it. I have to first and foremost thank the @MarsCuriousity team, @NASATweetup team and all the guest speakers and every person related to this program for moving so many pieces and accommodating the schedule in spite of the delays. Thank you for having us and giving the honor of sharing this experience.
Now, on to day one. After checking all my supplies were in order the night before and French pressing some coffee in my hotel, I hopped in the Renegade and arrived at the KSC Press Accreditation building just before 07:00 where I was greeting and checked in by a very scintillating and chipper woman who I later realized was Stephanie Schierholz(@schierholz). She really set the tempo and knowing she was in great spirits that early in the morning after working hard the previous days coordinating the tweetup and keeping us informed just made it the perfect start to the day. Having gotten there just under a couple of hours before the start of the agenda gave me time to mingle and repeatedly stare and contemplate the Vehicle Assembly Building. I have worked in aviation and have been in large maintenance hangars, as large as they are…they are studio apartments compared to the VAB. It is 52 stories high. If you take 86 of your 6ft tall friends and balanced them on each other’s head they would still come up short touching the ceiling. With that image in your head it is even more massive volume wise than you can imagine, more on this later.

Tires from all 3 Mars Rovers

 
At 09:00 Trent Perrotto(@NASA) and Veronica McGregor(@NASAJPL) kicked off the introductions. 100+ Tweeps I didn’t even try to commit them to memory. It was a game in my head to put a name to the faces I have interacted with on FB and Twitter. After a break NASA TV started and I was refreshed on things I already knew, introduced to aspects that I had no clue about and even compelled to ask a question of my own. Jim Green, the director of Planetary Science discussed a number of objectives past, present and future. Trent alluded to the fact that you could walk into any one of these offices and within minutes be pulled into a discussion about things that would blow your mind. Mr. Green definitely had me wondering where his office was. If he is the benchmark for the minds in that office I would say we are in good hands. Following him was more of the NASA HQ brain trust Doug McCuiston the director or the Mars Exploration Program. Next up were Allen Chen and Betina Pavri, systems engineers from NASA JPL. Ashwin Vasavada the MSL deputy project scientist at JPL and Pan Conrad had an impressive professional and personal resume. I was impressed with all the speakers; but Dr. Conrad’s approach to “forget what you know” with regard to Mars is sound. Yes science has a structure, a methodology; but I see that a lot of people are excited, optimistic and creative in their approach. The people listening to the speakers are not the only ones that are “Curious”.
Just when I thought I could not take in any more information, Rex Engelhardt hit the podium. He is the Launch Services Manager. His job to paraphrase, he buys the rockets the people need. If you have a mission and need a lift, he can facilitate it. I and a few other Tweeps accosted him afterwards and he was frank and informative. It was a perfect forum. By the end of the speakers and lunch we were off on our tour.
If you thought the sites around the Press Area were impressive, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. I was very fortunate along with my other Tour Mates to be on “The Cool Tweet Bus” with the best tour guide Kimberly Goudace. I went through so many emotions just on the first stop at the Apollo Saturn V Center. It was exciting and and evoked emotion when they highlighted the Apollo I crew that was lost. This entire exhibit recreates the launch of an Apollo Launch complete with the real command center and a full size rocket overhead in the next room.

The next stop, the inside of the VAB. Remember I mentioned looking from the outside is hard to fathom the sheer scale and volume? Even being inside looking up at the highest level overhead 500ft just doesn’t seem possible. Kimberly pointed out that the remains of Columbia were 16 levels up. It brought back the sadness when I thought about Challenger and later found out that it rest in one of the missile silos. After seeing Kimberly’s baby Endeavor and getting a few pictures we were on our way to see up close the ATLAS V on the pad with Curiosity stowed inside patiently waiting for someone to start the clock and light the fire! It was an awesome site to see and not something very many people will ever see that close a day before launch. I forgot to mention we saw the beach house on the way, first thing to pop in my mind were old episodes of I Dream of Jeannie. After leaving the pad we got on the way and stopped at the site of the Apollo I tragedy. You get out there and you get this feeling that’s hard to put in to words for me, seeing the remnants of the pad and the 3 benches for each of the crew members really puts it in perspective. No hero is ever forgotten and all are honored in this select group of explorers.

Unfortunately the sun decided to retire and our tour was over. I could have stayed out there talking with Kim and others for many more hours about their experiences, hopes and dreams. I was really honored and inspired.
We arrived back at the press area, and Kim being the consummate professional continued to speckle as much NASA trivia and knowledge as she could on the short drive. You get the sense that there are a lot of people that would work 24/7 if it were possible.
I look forward to tomorrow and seeing the MSL off on its long, but not as long as it could have been, journey.

Mars MSL Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ronnie Williams Tel: 832.409.1209 Ronnie.williams24@gmail.com @techgurumiami MEDIA RELEASE Miami-Dade County Resident is One of 150 Selected …

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