One year ago, I was lucky enough to see the last NASA Space Shuttle launch in person. I joined over 100 other participants in the NASA Social program (formerly NASA Tweetup) as we had exclusive media access to the best seats in the house in Cape Canaveral, Florida.. We shared laughs, knowledge, and more laughs as we celebrated all that the US has done with the space program in the last few decades.
Amazingly, we've come a long way since then, with SpaceX's Dragon becoming the first private spacecraft to dock with the International apace Station and China launching its first woman into space. Space exploration will continue, even without the shuttles.
For my thoughts at the time, check out the following posts:
- Initial announcement of my trip
- Philadelphia Examiner interview
- Recap of the first day of the two day program
- Video from the Shuttle up close