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!
