Washington, DC – It seemed like any other NASA press conference.  The James Webb Auditorium at NASA HQ in Washington D.C. was packed to the gills with men and women carrying cameras, laptops, cables, notepads, and all of the journalistic gear you’d expect.  We mingled for awhile, talking about the current ISS/Shuttle mission, the probable Jovian impact, and, of course, the 40th anniversary of man’s first steps on the moon.

A calm anticipation settled across the room as we waited for the day’s event to begin.  To our right, a woman picked up her knitting;  sitting nearby, A Sky Full of Stars co-author Tavi Greiner (aka @TaviGreiner) chatted with @egvick and @genejm29 about social media’s role in NASA outreach; and Rob Keown (@keownrwk) set about finding angles to shoot some images for this blog.

Then, NASA Public Affairs Officer John Yembrick stepped quietly up to the podium and uttered the words:

“Welcome to the 2nd NASA Tweetup!”

No, this wasn’t a press conference and the majority of people attending weren’t journalists; rather, this was a new kind of gathering and those in attendance were a more powerful agent for NASA: socially-networked-space-enthusiasts.  We had all successfully registered for 190 seats on July 1st, days after NASA announced the event.  Now we were here – most from the mid-Atlantic region, but some from as far as Spain, to walk hallowed ground with the beloved astronauts of STS-125, the final Hubble servicing mission!

NASA videographers, photographers, and other media specialists streamed live video to USTREAM, posted stills to Flickr (as they were shot) and manned the chatrooms, as 190 tweeters and bloggers typed, snapped, and asked questions that played-into NASA’s sweet spot:  The Astronaut Parade.

As the STS-125 crew came into the room, we realized that we were witnessing just how important internet-based social-networking had become.  NASA realized that, with the seeming abandonment of science by the major news networks, they had new tools to carry their good works almost directly to the public.

After a brief introduction, the STS-125 team narrated a 15-minute video highlighting the STS-125 mission.  Then came the questions from the audience, many of which were germane and well-answered.  To us, this emphasized that social-networking technology is becoming a strong force in reaching the hearts-and-minds of NASA’s client: the American Taxpayer.  This seems especially so, since the decimation of network science coverage (e.g. the departure of @MilesObrien from CNN.)

As the end of the program drew near, Rob finally got a chance to ask an actual astronomy question (you can see it at 01:32:49 of the USTREAM recording.)  In fact, ours was the only astronomy question posed.  Rob asked if any of the astronauts had a specific astronomy interest and what it was like to look into space from above the Earth’s atmosphere.  Mission Specialist Dr. John Grunsfield, the one astronomer amongst the crew, answered with a response that beautifully expressed both scientific objectiveness and human wonderment.  Watch the video to hear his full response, which includes a cute little story about sharing the constellations and an especially “dusty” galaxy with fellow Mission Specialist Mike Massimino (@Astro_Mike)!

So, how will this new NASA outreach experiment fare?  We believe that it has the potential to make NASA even more accessible (and perhaps more accountable?) to the people who fund it, and to people all over the planet who share the same drive, curiosity, and passion for gaining perspective about our little rocky mudball and the place it has in our existence.

Tags: James Webb Auditorium, NASA tweetup, STS-125

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 pm and is filed under NASA, Social Media, Space Shuttle Missions, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.