Avid Lansdowne tweeter to witness final space shuttle launch

LoudonTimes: Avid Lansdowne tweeter to witness final space shuttle launch
NASA will fire up the last shuttle of its Atlantis Space Shuttle Program on July 8. Loudoun resident Charles Godfrey will be watching just three miles away, tweeting up a storm.

The avid twitter user was one of 150 NASA Twitter followers selected to attend a two-day “tweetup” at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida. Every recorded U.S. human space flight since December 1968 has launched from the location.

“I’ve always wanted to go to a launch,” Godfrey, who will be stationed at a media viewing point just three miles away from the launch, said. “I was thrilled when I got the email that I had been selected — with the ending of the program this may have been my last chance.”

The 150 lucky followers, winners of a lottery of which more than 5,500 applied, will have the opportunity to interact with NASA engineers, shuttle technicians and astronauts, and will tour the facility.

“Getting this lucky for the final launch is unbelievable,” Godfrey said.

Atlantis is targeted to launch on July 8 at 11:40 a.m. — embarking on mission STS-135 to the International Space Station.

“Space Shuttle Atlantis will be launched into space at 17,500 mph to reach the International Space Station orbiting 225-plus miles above Earth,” Godfrey said. “Seeing the launch from only 3 miles away will be awe inspiring. The Space Shuttle Program represents the best of our determination and ingenuity. I am humbled and honored to be one of only 150 given the opportunity to see the final shuttle launch.”

Godfrey, a Sr. Software Engineer at Unanet Technologies in Sterling, said his Twitter followers, of which he currently has 441, can expect pictures as well as a wealth of interesting facts during the launch.

“We will be behind the scenes — seeing things most people will never get the opportunity to see. I can’t wait to share that with everyone.”

Godfrey knows some of the other 149 selectees from previous events (including the 2011 Sun Earth Day tweetup on March 19), but has also reached out to additional winners via Twitter.

For now, the lucky 150, Godfrey included, prepare to have a “blast” in Florida.

The date of Atlantis’ launch will be official after the Flight Readiness Review, scheduled for June 28. If the launch date moves or is delayed prior to July 8, NASA may change the Tweetup schedule accordingly.