NASA plans invite-only launch access for Twittering, blogging media
June 01, 2009
NASA,
which has been tip-toeing into the brave new world of social media with
Twittering astronauts and Facebooking rovers, is plotting a move into the belly
of the beast -- an invitation-only outreach to what it calls “the twedia” to
cover a space shuttle launch.
There are so many details to work out that the so-called TweetUp, originally planned for next week’s launch of space shuttle Endeavour, has been retargeted for the August flight of shuttle Discovery instead.
The agency figures it can handle about 100 to 150 Twitterers and bloggers in a makeshift press site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Twitter is an internet-based text message service that allows users to post updates -- called "tweets" -- of no more than 140 characters. The messages are distributed to other Twitter users who have signed up to receive them. The tweets also are posted and archived on the Twitter.com website.
NASA is still deciding whom to invite, how to accommodate Twittering media's need for high-speed internet service, and whether to restrict the TweetUp to U.S. citizens, among other issues.
Security measures implements after the September 2001 terrorist strikes prohibit foreign nationals from unescorted access to the spaceport.
George Whitesides, an Obama Administration appointee at NASA, said it has been a priority of the new president to engage the public directly with social media tools.
“NASA is taking a leadership role in this,” Whitesides said at a space development conference in Orlando last week.
“These things matter more than you might think,” he added. “More people follow CNN on Twitter than those who watch CNN during prime-time hours.”
More than 350,000 people followed updates from astronaut Michael Massimino, aka Astro_Mike, on Twitter during NASA’s last shuttle mission to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope.
The tweets weren’t exactly live, however.
Massimino emailed his messages to Mission Control in Houston as time and radio communications passes allowed. Public affairs officials then posted the passages on Twitter.
Astronaut Mark Polansky (Astro_127) commander of the shuttle Endeavour crew, plans to follow the practice during his upcoming construction mission at the International Space Station, which is scheduled for launch June 13.
“It serves as a good way to educate folks as to what’s going on in the program,” Polansky said.
“I’ll be the first the admit that I didn’t know a tweet from a Twitter from a Facebook from a MySpace before I got into this, but as I’ve done it I’ve learned that there’s a whole community of people that love this stuff and are following. People just love to see on a daily basis what you’re doing and feel like they’re getting a real insider’s view of what’s going on,” said Polansky, who as of Monday had 14,614 followers.
NASA hasn’t limited its electronic incarnations to living beings. One of its first and most popular Twitter feeds belongs to the Mars Phoenix rover, which, like sister rovers Spirit and Opportunity, also have a host of fans on Facebook.
(NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, spacewalking Hubble telescope repairman and part-time Twitterer in orbit. Credit: NASA)
How do we get considered for an invite?
Posted by: Paul Frickey | June 02, 2009 at 05:16 PM
checking for you paul ...
Posted by: Irene | June 03, 2009 at 08:33 AM