NASA Social
My interest in space — and adulation of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — began 30 years ago when I visited Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex for the first time as an 8 year old with my family. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was the primary launch site for the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs and continues to be used today for new NASA programs and private space programs such as those conducted by SpaceX. That experience of visiting KSC transformed my life and began my obsession with all things space as well as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Three years ago I went back to KSC for the first time in as many years with my wife & kid, and it transformed and reinvigorated my love again. I have said for many years, that if I could go back in time, I would study astrophysics or engineering — anything where I could work for @NASA & the space program. But, since I can’t, I have to find other ways to engage. That engagement took the form of #NASASocial.
NASA was established in 1958 and for decades excitement around space travel increased. With the loss of the shuttle Columbia in 2003 brought with it the end of the space shuttle program and the end of the fervent excitement of the 1960s. But, a new era of private space flight from companies such as Space X and others, along with campaigns to get back to the moon and beyond (Occupy Mars) have helped to sparked a new wave of excitement.
In 2012, NASA began a program called NASA Social. “NASA Social is a program to provide opportunities for NASA’s social media followers to learn and share information about NASA’s missions, people, and programs.” NASA Social invites social media influencers to come for a behind the scenes look at what happens in the days leading up to a launch and other events. Often culminating with a spectacular viewing of an associated launch.
I applied to the June 2019 NASA Social program after learning about it for the first time on Twitter. I never for a minute thought I would be chosen, but you know what they say, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take! So, I took a shot. NASA Social receives hundreds of applications for their programs, hand selecting just 50 individuals. As one of the chosen, you must cover all of your travel expenses, with the knowledge that there is a high possibility that the launch could be scrubbed at anytime. You are highly encouraged to make arrangements that are flexible and can be changed or cancelled at short notice. To say that I was ecstatic and giddy to be accepted to the NASA Social would be a complete and utter understatement! I have been fortunate to have done a great many, amazing things in my life, but the NASA Social experience will be one that will be difficult to top.
The launch I was selected to attend was a Monday night launch of the Falcon Heavy and the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission, but the NASA Social began on Sunday morning. Due to the start time, I decided to fly in the previous day. Leading up to the social I was extremely worried that I would fly down the day before and the launch would be scrubbed then — too late to cancel my arrangements, and with nothing to show for it except thousands of dollars lost. But, luckily, that was not the case! Adult space camp, as everyone kept equating it — was a go!
L-2 (two days before launch): I flew in to Orlando International Airport, rented a car and drove an hour east to Titusville, Florida, the city bordering Kennedy Space Center. After checking in to the Best Western Space Shuttle Inn (hehe), I decided to take in some of the local launch viewing sites.
My first stop was Space View Park. To get there you drive through the center of The City of Titusville. Titusville is an interesting place, and the center of the city was not only seemingly deserted, but the park itself was basically dilapidated. The viewing area, which I can only imagine had seen many a space shuttle and rocket launch over its years, had a fence around it, cordoning off a walkway over the river that was collapsing. I was immediately saddened, thinking about what this place would have been like at the hight of the space program and during the space shuttle launches. I could only equate this dilapidation with the decline in public enthusiasm for the space program. Something the NASA Social program is trying — successfully it seems in my biased and humble opinion — to rejuvenate.
Next I checked out Canaveral National Seashore, which is part of the National Park Services — for which I am a big fan! Per their website, “The national seashore contains 24 miles of pristine, undeveloped beach along the Atlantic coast, is prime habitat for many threatened and endangered species providing nesting beaches for several thousand protected marine turtles.” This was not a disappointment at all, and I could imagine that watching a launch from this location would be quite spectacular. As I walked up the walkway to the beach, I met a woman from Chicago. She was there with her husband, they also came down for the launch. We talked for a little while, I told them about the NASA Social program, and then we wished each other godspeed on the launch.
L-1 (the day before launch): Day 1 at the NASA Social started off in an undisclosed meeting location where we underwent check-in and a security sweep of our belongings. We boarded a Kennedy Space Center bus that took us over to the the NASA Space Tech briefing. The briefing took place at the NASA news center across the street from the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB. This tech briefing was a hour-long, live-broadcast, with the scientists and project managers who were sending up payloads on the Falcon Heavy rocket. These individuals discussed the purpose of their work and the science behind it, and then answered questions from reporters, NASA Social participants, and the public via the social media hashtag #AskNASA.
The Falcon Heavy Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) was slated to be one of the toughest SpaceX launches to date with 24 satellites, a deep space atomic clock, and a wide variety of research experiments. The deep space atomic clock is the first ever ion based atomic clock to fly in space. It will revolutionize how we navigate in space and will be a key component to sending folks to Mars. It is 50 times more stable than the GPS we are using today! This launch of the atomic clock was slated as a technology demonstration to make sure the physics of the clock would work. The first of many steps to accurately using it for deep space flight navigation.
Then there was the Green Propellent Infusion Mission which is a new fuel that is very low toxicity and easy to handle (they even ship it via Fedex!). Next was the team from HelioPhysics division at NASA discussing their work examining how space weather from above mixes with terrestrial weather from below to make “bubbles” of disturbances in the atmosphere. The Cosmic-2 mission from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was sending up a constellation observation system for use for meteorology, atmosphere and climate research. The mission included 6 identical spacecrafts on the Falcon Heavy, hence the “constellation” part of the project. Cosmic-2 will collect tropical storm data, because as one of the scientists stated “better data makes for better forecasts”. We also learned about a number of different industry parcels going up with the launch as well, including Celestis, which gives people the opportunity to have their cremated remains go into space. The remains stay on the satellite through its life and then burn up upon reentry.
These technological advances that NASA and others are working on eventually come to us in the public and advance human knowledge and will continue to improve life on this planet! Getting to hear about them so in-depth over the two days of NASA Social was a STEM geek’s dream come true.
After the L-1 briefing we took a NASA Social group picture in front of the historic countdown clock, and then we were free to visit Kennedy Space Center’s visitor center for the rest of the day. If you haven’t been, it is to NASA and space enthusiasts what I can only imagine the Magic Kingdom is to Disney fans. Kennedy Space Center’s visitor complex features exhibits ranging from the hall of Heroes and Legions to the Rocket Garden where you can “walk among actual rockets of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs”, to the magnificent Atlantis zone, which is where the space shuttle Atlantis is now housed. The Atlantis exhibit began with a short film recreating the 12 years it took from inception to implementation of the space shuttle program. In all there were 6 space shuttles as part of the fleet (Atlantis Challenger, Columbia, Discovery, Endeavor, and Enterprise). Of the 4 remaining space shuttles, they are housed across the country: Endeavor is in California, Discovery in in Virginia, Enterprise is in New York and of course Atlantis is in Florida. If you ever have an opportunity to see on in person, take it, it will change the way you view our world!
L-0 (day of launch): The second day of #NASASocial was really something quite special as we started out literally on launch pad 39B. We were able to walk around on the launch pad, accompanied by the managing director, who spoke to us about its history and upcoming use and answered our many questions. Think about that for a minute, we got to stand on the launch pad where 51 shuttle missions, as well as Apollo 10, took off! It still gives me chills. The launch pad hasn’t been used in close to 20 years, but it is being refurbished and will be used once again for the upcoming NASA Orion missions. We also got to see the bottom of the flame trench where at launch it reaches 7000 degrees centigrade. Fun fact, the water suppression system is used to suppress sound from the launch, not heat from the burn.
Later that day we went to the historic launch pad 39A, where 82 shuttle launches and 10 Apollo missions launched into space. This is also where the mission I was there to see, the Falcon Heavy STP-2 launched. As a part of the NASA Social group we got to go through the police barricade for super special access, and were literally across the street from the rocket. It was an awe-inspiring site pulling up to the launch pad, with the Falcon Heavy perched there, waiting to take off later that night.
After our visit to launch pad 39A we went over to Patrick Air Force Base and visited with the military personnel at Human Space Flight Support (HSFS), Detachment 3. They are the rescue and recovery unit for all of the astronauts when they return from space via a water landing. We got to see the “front porch” which is where the astronauts stay and receive medical treatment after they are removed from their capsule, until they are recovered by the helicopter. The HSFS is a small unit of 30 individuals who need to be ready to respond all over the globe in case of a space launch or landing emergency.
After leaving the HSFS we went to the building where the astronaut crew quarters are located, and saw the famous doorway where the astronauts walk out from after quarantine, before they enter the spacecraft. There were a lot of slo-mo videos and movie scene reenactments that took place during that stop!
After the excitement of the morning and afternoon we were given a 4 hours break to head back to our hotels and grab dinner before the launch, scheduled for 11:30p EST, the opening of the launch window. The launch window that day was open for 4 hours, or until 3:30a EST. Originally we were asked to meet back up for check-in and security sweep at 9:15p EST. At 8:30p, with a number of us already at the check-in point, the first news of a possible delay was circulating. We were asked to hold for further instruction. At one point it was noted that the countdown clock had gone black — not a good sign and one that had us all wondering if the launch had been scrubbed. But alas, not soon after a new launch time of 2:30a EST was announced, and with a sigh of relief, the NASA Social crew hunkered down for a long night.
I spent the time in the parking lot getting to know my fellow NASA Social group members a little better. The diversity of experience in our group was incredible — one person was a truck driver who’s daughter was in the Air Force Academy. Her dream and purpose for joining the Air Force is to become an Astronaut. He was there in honor of her! There was a retired Physics teacher who ran a student program where his students’ projects are actually on the International Space Station. He just came out of retirement because NASA admired his work with that program so much that they asked him to run the program to train more teachers. There was also a meteorologist, a news reporter, a voice actor and director, and a lot of social media influencers, bloggers and photographers, among others.
I never for a second thought that I would be picked for NASA Social because my background and professions have almost nothing to do with the space program. Yes, I am a big proponent of STEM and STEAM and science communication in general, but other than that — and a recent invitation to participate on a manuscript about CPR in space, I had never had any affiliation with the space program. And that is why the NASA Social program is so smart; as I suspect, they choose folks like me, and those in my cohort, who are proponents of STEM, with some social media influence, so that they can create excitement outside of the space program field. Many of the people I met had been to other NASA Socials in the past and had similarly amazing experiences. But for most of us, this was our first time. Some people had applied numerous times before and had never been selected, but they persisted and were able to enjoy all this program had to offer.
At 11:45p EST we once again met up at the check-in point for the standard security sweep, and once again loaded onto the Kennedy Space Center bus, headed to the causeway adjacent to Banana River where we would be viewing the launch. Across the river you could see the VAB and launch pad 39A with the Falcon Heavy lit up, as well as the numerous other launch pads along the coast of Kennedy Space Center. It was the most perfect night for a launch; the sky was clear and we were blanketed by millions of stars overhead. To the east was a beautiful, orange half moon.
Thirty minutes before launch NASA began broadcasting their live-stream audio over the loudspeakers, and at that point the excitement among the group rose and time accelerated. Before I knew it we were at t-minus one minute and counting. And then, night turned to day as we watched the Falcon Heavy take off for the first time at night. You can watch my video of the launch here but I will warn you now, it does not even begin to capture what it was like to witness in real-time and in person. In fact I almost did not post the video because it does a disservice to the true experience. Though the audio from the video does capture the emotion of the entire audience while watching this truly spectacular event.
It took just mere minutes for the Falcon Heavy to reach outer space and begin its simultaneous missions of deploying its payload of 24 satellites but also returning its side boosters, and main core booster back to earth. As the side boosters detached and started to return to earth the sky became green and wavy — similar to what I would imagine the Northern Lights look like. Then as both boosters reentered the atmosphere over top of us, they landed on their platform with their signature double sonic booms to the joy and delight of everyone watching. I still tear up and get chills thinking about it. Unfortunately the core rocket booster did not land back on its platform successfully, but then that is science! Learn from failure and try again! After that, we immediately returned to the bus, went back to the check-in location, said our goodbyes and departed. I was back at my hotel by 3:30a, just an hour after the most mind-blowing experience I have ever had. Just as fast as the rocket had entered into space, the NASA Social ended.
The next day, before heading back to Orlando, I decided to check out one more thing. On a tip from some NASA Social peeps, I went to see the new SpaceX “Starship” being built in Cocoa Beach, FL. To get there you have to drive down this long-winding, industrial road. At the very end of that road, behind a fence with a guard, is a majestic silver starship. Which SpaceX is hoping will be the next generation of spacecraft to launch commercially into space by 2021.
It is hard to put into words, or capture the wide-range of emotions that came along with this truly one of a kind opportunity. The experience of watching the Falcon Heavy STP-2 launch as a part of NASA Social is something that I will never forget, and something I hope to recreate again in the future at one of the many other NASA Socials. I highly encourage anyone with even the faintest interest in space travel to apply. It truly is an out-of-this-world experience.
You can check out my play-by-play of the #NASASocial as well as the ~9 minute launch video over on Twitter @marionleary and some of my better pictures on Instagram: @marionleary.
