NASA Plans Tweetup for Atlantis Launch

NASA is seeking 100 Twitter followers to view the Nov. 12 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on its next mission to the ISS. While NASA has held Tweetups—informal meetings of people who use the social messaging service Twitter—before, this is the first time the space agency has invited its Twitter followers to view a launch in person.

Registration opens at 12:00 p.m. EDT on Oct. 16. "NASA will accommodate the first 100 people who sign up. An additional 50 registrants will be added to a wait list," the space agency said on its Website. Registrants are "responsible for your own expenses for travel, lodging, local transportation, food and other amenities." NASA expects to name the winners by Oct. 19. According to the site:

"The two-day event will provide NASA Twitter followers with the opportunity to take a tour of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, view the space shuttle launch and speak with shuttle technicians, engineers, astronauts and managers. The Tweetup will include a 'meet and greet' session to allow participants to mingle with fellow Tweeps and the staff behind the tweets on @NASA.

"Space shuttle Atlantis is targeted to launch at 4:04 p.m. EST on Nov. 12 on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station."

Twitter has been an unquestioned success at NASA. In May, astronaut Mike Massimino began tweeting during his mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Since then, Massimino has attracted more than a million followers.