My Golden Ticket: Being One of the lucky 150 for STS135 NASA Tweetup

I am still in slight shock from what happened to me around noon on Friday, June 10th...

I had just gotten out of my Numerical Analysis class and was at lunch with some aerobuddies (and other non-aero friend). We were talking about what were our plans for the weekend and other random events. I knew there was going to be an announcement of the selected that day and was going to check my email before I headed to work. I pulled up my phone and I saw it....

"Congratulations, you have been selected to attend the NASA Tweetup on July 7-8 for space shuttle Atlantis' targeted launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida!"

I literally almost fell out of my chair out of excitement. I kept rereading the email to make sure I wasn't just seeing things or making things up. When I signed up for the NASA Tweetup, I never thought I would actually get chosen. I couldn't believe my good fortune. Still in shock I called my father about it and squeed on the phone for a good 30mins. I was literally on Cloud 9 the rest of the weekend. Such an amazing opprotunity was given to me. I waited for an hour before actual posting anything on my status on facebook. i wanted to clear my head so that I could actually form sentences. The status I posted was this:

"I was one of the 150 out of 5,500 people chosen to attend the STS135 NASA TweetUp!!! I can not describe how thrilled I am right now. I actually feel like I could blast off any moment!! What an amazing opportunity this is. I am truly honored!"



That weekend, I continued to go back and reread the email. Not to mention the amazing group of people I found myself among. Between the facebook group and Twitter, so many amazing Space Tweeps were on my twitter feed and notifications box! I was among so many vastly different people who shared my passion for space. It was a chilling experience to take a step back from tweeting, retweeting, commenting, and posting things and fully realizing how truly amazing this experience was going to be. I am still getting chills thinking about it as I type this.

I am so truly honored to be among these people and for being chosen by the NASA Tweetup crew.

I want to thank @NASATweetup for giving me this amazing opportunity that will be something I will continue to look back on. I will hopefully one day build rockets that will instill such awe and amazment that the Shuttles remain to instill in myself.

I know some NASA Tweetup folks will be reading this, so to all of you, I simply cannot wait to meet you all in person and share this life changing experience. I am honored to be counted among all of you amazing fellow space tweeps. See you in Florida!

Interested in keeping up with the #STS135 #NASATweetup crew? Follow the list here:
STS135 NASATweetup List

Interested in following what I do? Follow me here:
Mary Kate (@TimeLord_mk)

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MK Dailybooth

"Let's face it, space is a risky business. I always considered every launch a barely controlled explosion."— Aaron Cohen