Another NASA Tweet-up

Sometimes all it takes is to ask. If you don’t ask, there is virtually a 100% chance that you won’t get what you want. Your chances may not increase much if you do ask, but sometimes that is all it takes.

In fact, that’s all it took for Janelle Wilson (@janellewilson on Twitter) to get what she wanted: a simple request. Janelle, a science teacher in Georgia, is a huge fan of the space program. As a member of the Space Tweep Society, she thought it would be fun to have a tweetup at Kennedy Space Center during her upcoming vacation to Florida. Janelle reached out, and the ball was rolling.

I got word of the mini-event through Twitter. Ah, yes, Twitter – that wonderful nugget of internet space that just keeps connecting me to more cool people and more cool events than I ever imagined possible. I expressed my interest, and with Janelle’s boldness, asked if perhaps I could bring my family along for the event.

The answer was, “Yes.”

Unfortunately, my youngest son came down with a fever and was unable to attend, so he and my wife stayed home. With my daughter Morgan and other son Alex rearing to go, we headed out to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to meet with the rest of the group. Of course, @flyingjenny and her husband @apacheman, both of whom work at the Kennedy Space Center on various parts of the shuttle program, were there to greet us. Andrea Farmer (@AndreaFarmer on Twitter) with the Public Relations office at the Visitor Complex, who was instrumental in arranging the tweetup, was also in attendance. I said it before and I’ll say it again here: NASA really “gets” social networking and has embraced it fully.

The schedule was simple: check out the soft opening of the new Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted attraction, ride the Shuttle Launch Experience, and then enjoy the rest of the day as we each chose. The new Explore Space exhibit is really something. The entire room is very hands-on, with presentations about the next steps of our manned space flight all around. NASA has always been forward-thinking, and this facility really shows you that this philosophy is holding strong.

After finishing there, we all huddled around in a circle with our preferred Tweeting devices out spreading the word to our respective world of followers about what we had just experienced. Now you may be thinking, “Why bother mentioning the silly Twitter Huddle,” but for us new media folks, this is huge! See, when I am with a group of folks that understand social media and the desire to bring others along for the ride, there’s no pressure. There’s no one waiting on me to finish messing with my phone so that we can move on to bigger and better things. The integration of what is going on right now with those of my followers that find it interesting is the bigger and better thing. It’s why we do social media.

We finished dancing the Twitter Hokey Pokey and headed over to the Shuttle Launch Experience. I have experienced this particular attraction before. Twice. For those that have not, it is certainly a must see. The experience does a great job of explaining what a real shuttle launch is all about, and it gives riders a nice taste of the eight and a half minute ride to orbit. If you aren’t fired up about NASA’s space program after taking a ride on this baby, then you and I just can’t be friends. No hard feelings, you and I just aren’t compatible in that way. You go hang out over there, and I will stay over here with my space buddies, and everything will be just fine.

After the return to Earth, we all went about on our own. Some people had to leave for work and other planetary obligations, but a few of us pressed on. My kids and I decided to ride the bus tour, mainly because we wanted to see the epic Saturn V Facility. We were joined by Janelle Wilson and her father Bill Harrier (@bharrier on Twitter). We had a great time chatting and learning a little bit about each other’s interests, families, and jobs. After the very short time I had to spend with them, I now consider them friends.

My children and I went through the Saturn V Facility, and for the first time we actually got to enjoy the presentation of landing on the moon, Lost Contact (a must-see). We got separated from Janelle and Bill at this point, but that really doesn’t matter. Now we stay in touch through Twitter.

Thank you Janelle and Bill for spending the day with my kids and I, and especially for Janelle’s simple request for a Tweetup. Thank you Jenny for getting the ball rolling and escalating the request. Thank you Andrea and all of the NASA Public Relations Team for making this, and so many other events like it, possible, giving us mere mortals a taste of the magic of space.

Twitter once again brings people together in a tangible, special way. In describing the way people connect on several of the more well-known social media networks and how they bring people together, someone once said that Twitter introduces you to the people you want to know. It did that day. And it still is.

Tagged as: Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Space, Technology, Twitter