Shake & Break facility

nasa!

Caught a shot with Bill (on the right) who worked at Wallops on the Scout program in the 60s. He helped install the Scout missile on display at the National Air and Space Museum. Says he signed inside it!

The robot starts shaking your hand once you make contact, then turns toward the camera...in this case even faster than i do.

JPL profile: science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Levin/

Water cutting

Camera

He's asking Planetary Society members to raise their hands.

From the photoblog on 04/27/2011.

Greetings from Cocoa Beach, Florida!

I woke up at around 6:30AM this morning, prepared for a day of travel/adventure. Just over a week ago, I bought a round-trip plane ticket from Atlanta to Orlando. This was one of the shortest plane trips I've ever taken (about one hour and twenty minutes). The plane was filled with over-enthused teenagers going to Disney World.

At the airport, I picked up my car from a rental agency (I'm driving a Ford Fiesta, which, incidentally I first featured on this blog here and here) and then drove down to Cocoa Beach (about fifty miles away). I am staying in a house located right on the beach, and I decided to take a brief stroll in the afternoon.

And in case you are wondering what I'm doing in Florida: I am here as part of the NASA tweetup to see the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134)! The launch is scheduled for Friday at 3:47PM (the main event), but tomorrow we're getting a tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, including visits to the Apollo Saturn V Center, a drive by the Shuttle Landing Facility, Mate-Demate Device, Orbiter Processing Facility, Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and Mobile Launcher Platforms, and viewing of the retraction of the Rotating Service Structure. Phew!

I will probably post a comprehensive post from the event tomorrow. Stay tuned!

I met a bunch of astronauts on the trip. This is James Reilly who flew several Space Shuttle missions

The tweets with #NASATweetup in them from the Wednesday tweetup day broken down my time and popularity.

banner_nasatweetup_RSC2882

This is a shuttle mock-up at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex.

Juno poster being gifted to NASA/JPL Tweetup staff in appreciation from the group.

From the flight down to Florida for a #NASATweetup

Lift-off of the space shuttle Atlantis. STS-129 is off to replenish the ISS.

This is probably the neatest thing I've ever photographed.

The RSS (Rotating Service Structure) had just been rolled back to reveal the orbiter Endeavour. The RSS is moved to prepare for the next mornings launch attempt.

Shake & Break facility

Aporkalypse on the screen.

Posted from Twitter via Twitterrific

The data team is in Norway, so the mascot is a polar bear.

JPL profile: sse.jpl.nasa.gov/people/profile.cfm?Code=BoltonS1

NPP Systems Manager

All badges for the NASA Tweetup.

The tweeps were all aflutter. I felt bad for the person speaking when Bill Nye arrived; no one paid much attention.