Space Tweep Society 1st Anniversary Twelebration

with Jen Scheer

The founder of Space Tweep Society, Jen Scheer (Twitter: @flyingjenny), a space-shuttle technician by day and space tweep 24x7, together with Tiffany Titus (@astrogerly) contributed to the excitement of the STS-132 Atlantis launch a few weeks ago by having a post launch party to celebrate the Space Tweep Society first birthday, or as they named it, Space Tweep Society 1st Anniversary Twelebration.
Space Tweep Society (STS... is this a coincidence?) is a portal for people who tweet about space (i.e. space tweeps) and bloggers, or anything in between. 140 characters not enough? The commitment to maintaining a blog too much? You can register and express yourself on the STS web site, which connects the public, space enthusiasts and people (like Jen and Tiffany themselves) who work in the space industry.

Fishlips - click and look at the sign

The party took place at a restaurant on Cocoa beach called Fishlips (isn't that a good nick name for a 1930s mobster?). After an eventful day (traffic, Atlantis launch, hanging out at Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center and watching Magnificent Desolation - Walking on the Moon 3D with fellow A4Hs), I drove to Cocoa beach (location of Fishlips). It was already packed with people from the NASA Tweetup and others who came to party after watching the launch. There was beer and food and joy all around - after all, everyone there was a space enthusiast who 4-5 hours earlier got to see a perfect space-shuttle launch...

Space geeks having fun

Apart from the food and beer there were also some funny competitions such as the geekiest shirt (how I didn't win with my Spacepirations shirt is beyond me...) or the make your own Meco contest (Meco is the name of the Space Tweep Society birdonaut mascot, named after MECO, which stands for Main Engine Cut Off, a critical point in rocket ascent). Perhaps more than anything else it was great to put some more faces onto Twitter and Space Tweep Society nick-names and tiny avatars that accompany them. I had a lot of fun roaming around, meeting new people and hanging out with people who two days prior were strangers or at most acquaintances over the blogosphere or twitter. With all the wonders of modern communication technologies, the old fashioned, face to face kind still trumps them all.

with A4H Brian Shiro and retired astronaut Leroy Chiao

with Brian and Beth Beck

All in all, a great party full of space geeks and tweeps. Thanks to Jen, Tiffany and everybody else that planned, executed and attended the twelebration, this was the best way to conclude the launch day.