Tweet
In January of 2009, I got to attend the very first NASA Tweetup. It was held at JPL in Pasadena; even though no-one really knew what they were doing, just getting to be there and meet the people behind the Mars (and other) missions was life-changing. I met some of my best friends there.
While I was there, I got to see the new Mars rover, Mars Science Lab (aka Curiosity), in the clean room of JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. It was the first I'd heard of it, and I was fascinated.
2 years later, in June of 2011, I returned to JPL for another NASAtweetup. One of my best friends from the first Tweetup had returned for the event, and I got to see my JPL friends again, too. This time, Curiosity was almost complete; she'd be shipped to Kennedy Space Center in weeks.
From early 2011 until she was packed for shipping, I watched the rover get built, tested, and finally packed into the biggest crate I've ever seen.
In November of 2011, I blew the last of the money from my old job and traveled to Florida with friends I'd met at other NASA events, and saw Curiosity launch. I even stayed behind in the event tent with a handful of others to watch the video feed from Curiosity as she turned away from Earth and blasted out of orbit on her way toward Mars.
On Sunday night (Pacific Time), Curiosity begins her "7 minutes of terror" descent to Mars. I'll be in Pasadena with other NASA geeks to watch the feed.
3 1/2 years to get to this point. I'm terrified that something will go wrong, but there's no reason to think it will.
Go, Curiosity, go!
While I was there, I got to see the new Mars rover, Mars Science Lab (aka Curiosity), in the clean room of JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. It was the first I'd heard of it, and I was fascinated.
2 years later, in June of 2011, I returned to JPL for another NASAtweetup. One of my best friends from the first Tweetup had returned for the event, and I got to see my JPL friends again, too. This time, Curiosity was almost complete; she'd be shipped to Kennedy Space Center in weeks.
From early 2011 until she was packed for shipping, I watched the rover get built, tested, and finally packed into the biggest crate I've ever seen.
In November of 2011, I blew the last of the money from my old job and traveled to Florida with friends I'd met at other NASA events, and saw Curiosity launch. I even stayed behind in the event tent with a handful of others to watch the video feed from Curiosity as she turned away from Earth and blasted out of orbit on her way toward Mars.
On Sunday night (Pacific Time), Curiosity begins her "7 minutes of terror" descent to Mars. I'll be in Pasadena with other NASA geeks to watch the feed.
3 1/2 years to get to this point. I'm terrified that something will go wrong, but there's no reason to think it will.
Go, Curiosity, go!
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