I was exhausted but I had to drag myself out of bed. Had to pack since I opted to sleep once I had returned to the hotel the night before. Drag everything back down to the car. pack that. Double check I didn’t leave anything. I left the burrs, though. Those fucking burrs.

It was only at this point did I realize I should have stayed one more night. I could explore Florida a bit more. There was the nature preserve near the KSC. Alas… didn’t think, didn’t plan.  And I had already picked these little bastards off my shoes…

Sharp prickly Sand Burrs

Plastic fork, people. Seriously. Wedge them into the tines of the fork and pull. Works wonders. Too bad I only thought of that when I was almost done and my fingertips were numb. Evil little things…

Oh look! A palm Tree!

Brunch at the iHop. Pictures of the palms in the area. That was about it. I hopped back onto I-95 north and drove all day until I made it to my parent’s house back in North Carolina. Stayed a few days to rest and spent time with the ‘rents, then a few days with my sisters back up on Long Island. Soon, I was back up in Rochester. Was it worth missing out on Thanksgiving? Yeah. Will I try for another TweetUp? Hell Yeah!

Will be a TweetUp Reunion in August when Curiosity lands on Mars? Maybe…

MSL Curiosity Poster

It was more like a nap by the time my mind took a break from its marathon of thoughts and the butterflies in my stomach settled from hours of anticipation. Or was it indigestion from the really bad Chinese food I had the night before? No. Anticipation. I was like a kid who wasn’t allowed to leave the dinner table until I ate enough of my veggies. Three hours of sleep enough? good.

Up and in the car well before the sun, drinking really awful hotel coffee, I drove back to the Kennedy Space Center for what ended up being the last time. We had been waiting for this day for weeks. Others had been waiting  for months, years! This was Launch Day!

We had to arrive by 6am. Again, most of us arrived early. Few slept at all. I was excited, but it didn’t hit me until I saw the clock on and counting down. Weather permitting, this was happening.

Launch Day - The Countdown Clock.

Again, another morning planned. Our large group was split into two. Mainly because the media building couldn’t handle all of us at once. I walked with the first group to witness the the work Doug Ellison had been doing for JPL. A project called “Eyes on the Solar System” – anyone with a computer can “see” what we’re doing in space. Our satellites and where they are, where they were, and where they will be. All 3D models. All beautiful. And for those who own a pair of red/cyan 3D glasses, the experience can really “pop out”. ugh. Sorry.

After that, the groups switched and I made it back to the Twent where Astronaut Doug Wheelock (@Astro_Wheels) spoke with us. Followed by Bill Nye The Science Guy! Part of me knew he was going to be part of this Tweet Up! I had seen his talk at my Alma Mater where he spoke passionately about Mars and Sundials! I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t there.

Then our special guest came up. Seriously… who could top Bill Nye? Well, Will.I.Am of course! Wait… what?!

Turns our Will.I.Am is a huge supporter of Space exploration and STEM/STEAM. He has launched his own project called SYSTEM (stimulating youth for science, technology, engineering and mathematics). His current single T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) kinda hints at how awesome space and technology is. He also said that the day Curiosity lands on Mars he will release a song in honor of it and STEM.

Doug Wheelock!

Bill Nye The Science Guy! Ahhh!!

Another astronaut made it, Leland Melvin (@Astro_Flow). He and Wheels totally air-chest bumped. It was awesome. We were also surprised with the head of NASA – Charles Bolden. Wow. All the crazy. All the awesome. And it wasn’t even 10am yet!!

The head guru of NASA - Charles Bolden

Will.I.Am and Wheels!!

Once the group photo had been taken, we had some time to kill. So, what better way to kill time than to have a spontaneous Q&A with Wheels and Bill Nye!? Yeah. I can’t think of anything better. Questions asked. Answers given. Autographs and photos with our heroes later, we slowly made our way outside where the clock was getting very close to zero.

There she goes! WOOHOOO!!!

This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. How have I gone 25 years without this?! One second hidden beind the treeline, sitting on the Earth’s surface and then up, with what seems like the light of the sun lifting it up, Atlas V is forced up into the air, breaking through our layers of atmosphere and racing towards the stars. All the while it is quiet. Around the second this picture was taken was when you could finally hear it – A rumbling thunder. It’s hard to describe. Next time you’re in the shower, blow into the streams of water. It’s weird I know, but trust me. It sounds something like that, but a lot more awesome, and less wet. And to blow your mind just a bit more, the sound reached us before it reached the ears of other spectators.

Cheers. Tears. Yells. There was happiness and a rush like nothing else. There was hugging. There was talk of what just happened. I played with the controls on my camera to do a bit of stop-motion replay. We wanted to see it again! Once wasn’t enough!

We made it back inside the Twent to see the replays of the launch there. Other views that only cameras can share. Moments later we witnessed the separation of the rocket body. Curiosity was on her way!

It was around now that people started to leave. We were invited to stay and watch the Post-Launch news conference in the Twent so a few of us stayed for that. A few helped clean up. The crews came to start dismantling the Twent. It was over. Suddenly, it was over. I made it to the car, not wanting to but having to leave. I took my time. Drove slowly away. Windows down, I wanted to take it all in. 150+ of us and suddenly I was alone in the car with just my memories.

Not having eaten, I stopped for lunch. I was back with the public going about their day. Had a mediocre lunch and made it back to the hotel room. I called my fiance and shared everything. I had to share what I just experience. I needed to keep it alive.

While my computer processed images, I watched some tv, exhaustion settling in. Dozed a bit. I had a sofa in my hotel room and I napped on that versus in the bed three feet away. Soon, it was time to see a few of my new friends for the last time at the EndlessBBQ. Drove from Titusville to Cocoa Beach. My GPS getting me lost and had me walk the last quarter mile to the bar. Had a great talk with a few people. One amazing talk with someone that gave my self-esteem a jump in MP (Magic Points. Yeah. I went there. Speaking of game references. Pat – #YouGotAThing.)

They day I wish would never end, had to end. Dinner consumed with a great group of new friends. hugs exchanged. And a dark, lonely walk back down that quarter mile to my car I drove back to the hotel. The last night. And I slept so well…

EndlessBBQ Shells on the table.

Still feeling a bit overwhelmed from all that happened today.

This morning we had to arrive in time for the 9am start of events. A well structured full-day of awesome. I arrived a bit early, much like everyone else, to explore the area where we’ll be spending the majority of that day and next. The VIP site was well inside the property of NASA. And yes. I almost got lost even with all the signs posted. I’m just that special.

Oh.. you know that clock? The iconic countdown clock? THE clock… yeah. I can already tell you’re jealous.

The famous count-down cock! It's HUGE!

Just to warn you.. this post is just as huge as the clock. I won’t feel bad if you skip the reading parts and just scrolled to see the pictures.

9AM started with introductions of those who organized the event, then a pass-the-mic introduction of all the participants.  What’s your name, Twitter handle and something about yourself. Simple and to the point as there were 150+ of us. I sat in the corner at the “left-over” table which was inconveniently outlet free. Fortunately, our table neighbor was more than willing to share their power strip.  As unloved as this table was I couldn’t complain- I had a direct line of site to the podium, sat next to the AC unit (which worked the latter half of the morning ) and a speaker right behind me. I never missed a word. The best part of my seat? I didn’t bother anyone when I stood to take pictures. Being by the entrance where the VIP speakers came in didn’t hurt either. Best seat in the house… er.. #Twent, in my opinion!

Full Twent of Tweeps at a Twitter TweetUp Event!

Are you Curious about this wheel I'm holding?

With introductions over with, we were right on schedule to hear from people whom worked on the project. I’m not going to lie. I felt like I was the only one there that didn’t understand a lot of the techie/science stuff. I try. I’m really interested in everything, but some engineering jokes. whoosh. right over the head.

I will say, however, when we were told about the Plutonium-238 that was required to power Curiosity, I couldn’t help but think about this:

Dr. Emmett Brown: No, no, no, no, no. This sucker’s electrical. But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.
Marty McFly: Doc, you don’t just walk into a store and-and buy plutonium. Did you rip that off?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Shhhhhh. Of course. From a group of Libyan nationalists. They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium and in turn, gave them a shiny bomb-casing full of used pinball machine parts! Come on! Let’s get you a radiation suit. We must prepare to reload.

Oh Back to the Future… But I need to state that we did obtain the Plutonium-238 legally. From Russia, sans pinball machine parts. XD

Once the talks were over we broke for lunch. A Water and a blueberry Cliff bar later, I packed up my laptop and my big camera gear to get ready for the 4-hour tour. This is when I began to hum the tune to Gilligan’s Island. My mind is weird.

Bus number 4 Tour guide!

Our first stop was the VAB or the Vehicle Assembly Building.  This building is huge!  How huge, you ask? Volume, we’re talking about 3.5 Empire State buildings. Still don’t understand the crazy girth of this building?

VAB

A single star on the American flag? SIX FEET TALL! Wait for it. Wait for it… There ya go.

That's... kinda tall...

Inside the VAB - looking up.

I seriously wish someone was up there looking down so it would demonstrate scale. This place was seriously huge. Scary huge. Did I mention huge?!

As many know (actually, many people do NOT know this) but the Shuttle Program has ended. As sad as it is,  it is also a great opportunity to start something new. That said, the old must make way for the new. Endeavour was there parked inside the VAB. It was being decommissioned and prepared for immortality at the California Science Center. Though it will have a good home and be viewed by many at its new resting place, I still couldn’t help but cry a little. I wasn’t the only one.

Endeavour - As it sleeps, we will remember.

Tears shed, we continued on with the tour. Back on the bus we travelled deeper into Cape Canaveral. Past an infamous Beach House which has probably seen a lot of action over the years. They say there is a room full of empty wine bottles with the signatures of every man and woman that has been set to launch into space. I said prove it. Sadly, we weren’t allowed to see.

If walls could talk...

More tears were shed. The Apollo 1 launch pad.

“They gave their lives in service to their country in the ongoing exploration of humankind’s final frontier. Remember them not for how they died but for those ideals for which they lived.”- Written on a plaque commemorating Apollo 1

We were a bit early when we arrived at the next stop on our tour that we never got a chance to get close. But we could still feel it. This is part of the beginning chapters of Space Exploration. This is the past that helped bring us to where we are now. As the bus turned around and left we literally traveled the road to the present… to the reason 150 strangers were brought together that day.

The view from the bus ...

Dearest friend Zach, standing a football field's length away from the Atlas 5 holding Curiosity.

All set and waiting for the start of its journey the following day, the Mars Space Laboratory sat patiently in the Atlas V rocket. Separated by only the span of a football field, an electrified fence, and a man with a specific authority holding a weapon I am not familiar with and didn’t wish to be on the wrong end of, we stood in awe. Another wonderful gentleman was there telling us about the rocket and his part in this mission to Mars. I wish I remembered his name. Why am I so horrible with names?! Maybe because I was focused on the rocket that was going to be shot into space in under a day that I didn’t pay attention. Or was it the 5 ft margin of space that we were warned not to enter or we’d be in the rifle-man’s cross-hairs? No, I think I was yelling at myself for not bringing my telephoto lens so I could have better shots of the rocket. Yeah, that’s probably it.

Back on the bus we had one more stop to make – The Saturn V center. Filled with a lot more tourists than the rest of the tour, we walked through this building, watched a movie, and sat through the recorded countdown of, I think, the Apollo 8 launch. But what was awesome was the Saturn V rocket they had on display. My jaw was on the floor.

Saturn V - Blast end

“These beings, with soaring imaginations, eventually flung themselves and their machines into interplanetary space.”-Carolyn Porco

Time was up. We all filed back onto the bus and, with a setting sun, traveled back to the parking lot between the VAB and the Twent to leave for the day. I stood by my car and couldn’t move for a long time. Nothing I could do or say would accurately describe how I felt. From when I woke up that morning to when the sun set I was involved with so many people, sharing with them excitement and sadness and hope. So much history. I felt an overwhelming pride for what we, as a people, had accomplished. However, there was also a small pain deep in my chest. So much of that pride is only shared by a fraction of the population now compared to back then…

Thus the existence of the NASA TweetUps! To spread the word of how awesome and important this endeavor is! We have barely made a scratch into the depths of space and we are still so young! I hope that this pride and inspiration will return, and I hope to be a part of it!

VAB after sunset

Sorry. Residual stress from DRIVING TO FLORIDA FROM NEW YORK  WHATTHEHELLISWRONGWITHME!? It was fun. Seriously. No. Yes, I am crazy. I don’t think I was ever sane.

In case you haven’t heard me rant excitedly like a school girl for the last month- I’m here in the sunshine state for the #NASATweetUp of the Mars Space Laboratory dubbed “Curiosity”. I’m going to see and experience SO MUCH that I decided to blog about it.

First off. What is a NASATweetUp? Well, I suppose I should break it down even further to “What is a TweetUp”… A TweetUp is a gathering of people, specifically with at least one thing in common – they use twitter. The only way to enter is to use twitter. And if you win, the organization assumes you will tweet about it, and then tweet some more when you are at the gathering. In a way, it’s like unofficial publicity. NASA has seen this power of publicizing through twitter and figured out how to use it. NASATweetUps- using social media to gather people, with another thing in common (SPACE) and plan something amazing and fun that they’ll share with their friends and followers to help “spread the word”. Awesome for them. Awesome for us!

Now, about this Mars Space Laboratory… We are sending a new rover to Mars. The planet. No, I don’t think it is made of candy (no M&Ms on Mars… Cheese on the moon, however, is still debatable.) This SUV sized robot of awesome is going to to drive around the Gale Crater and “investigate the area’s past and present environments”(MSL press release. Seriously. Everyone should read this.) Basically, it’s going to observe and analyze what’s on the surface and below the surface (up to 6cm, I believe, with a laser!) and run other tests because it is a mobile laboratory on freaking MARS. (Well.. not there yet…)

At this TweetUp I get to meet engineers, scientists, and other awesome people who are a part of this mission. I also get to meet other amazing people just because Mars is freaking awesome and they wanted to be a part of it, too! (*cough*Bill Nye The Science Guy *cough*Will.I.Am*cough cough*)

How did I manage to get this AMAZING opportunity? Easy! I entered the #NASATweetUp lottery! huzzah! Simply follow @NASATweetUp on Twitter and when they announce a new Tweetup just enter! You’ll be randomly pick from the pile! To be completely honest – I freaking lucked out! I didn’t know which tweetup opportunity I sumbitted my twitter handle for. I saw the chance to enter, put in my name and actually forgot about it. Only a few weeks later I got the email saying “CONGRATULATION!”

First I was like...

Then I was all like

Yeah… Go ahead. be jealous. I can take it.

I arrived in the sunshine state last night after splitting my insane road trip into two parts. Part A from New York to North Carolina in 11 hours. Stayed with the ‘rents for a day, then proceeded to Part B… another 10 hours from NC to Florida. Arrived at the Pre-Tweetup dinner and met a few awesome people. Meeting people you’ve only met online IRL was weird but exciting! Oh, and the food was good.

Today I went to pick up my badge. The drive to the Space Center was just totally terrific. I also saw the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in the distance. Oh it was a beautiful site. (VAB not shown.. sorry…)

I would not mind this being my commute everyday. *cough*HINT*cough*

I am already so excited, and I barely did anything yet. I received a free pass to the Visitor’s Center which I’ll redeem tomorrow. A full Thanksgiving day of just Space Nerd-ery. I’ll post an end-of-day post. Also follow me on Twitter and on this tumblr I just made while writing this to keep up with all of my thoughts and pics. Yeah. this is going to be awesome.

I had a class last quarter (because RIT still has trimesters and it’s better, damnit!) that the professor used a stand-alone projector/speaker system. Not one class with him went by where he didn’t make a snide comment about technology. “It’s the projector, it screws up the colour.” “The speakers don’t work.” “The projector doesn’t project the entire screen. School of technology, heh.” “The copier must’ve screwed this page up.”

Really?

It’s not like he’s new to all this. Some of his work is digital…

But it isn’t just him. Many artists in my school are fearful of technology. Someone openly admitted to me once that she has her boyfriend check her email because she doesn’t know how to turn on the computer.

Granted, I might be spoiled in my knowledge of how a computer works because my boyfriend and I built our own computers a few years back. Back in high school I taught myself the basics of the computer and programming websites. I feel, however, that if you gave it the time of day most of what you need to know is common sense. Even with a new computer, fresh out of the box, you knew where to plug in the monitor and the keyboard because the plugs fit in perfectly-

So why is it like trying to fit a cube into the opening shaped like a circle for these people!? really!? We had presentations for our finals and some of us brought our own laptops. One person had an older Mac and was trying to force the VGA, or the new mac proprietary video plugs into places it didn’t fit. I had to say something at this point. I grabbed the laptop, noticed it was a DVI connection and grabbed a DVI to VGA adapter from my bag to save the day.

Because I’m the only loser I know who carries around a DVI to VGA…

Oh dear readers… when it was my time to present my final, I indirectly handed it to my professor… I gave a quick rant that it isn’t Technology’s fault… the problems existed between chair and keyboard. (One person actually got it. Thank you friend in the back.) I also said that it hurt some people’s feelings when technology got the blame when it wasn’t at fault. No one takes care of it!

I got a small applause for that. My Professor didn’t say a word.

But it isn’t hard to learn! Why are artists fearful? Is it this hatred that it’ll make crappy art to replace hand made art? No… It’ll be crap art because PEOPLE will make crap art on the computer. The computer is a tool, just learn to use it, and it can do really amazing things…