Posts: 1104 From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK Registered: Dec 2002
posted 04-22-2012 06:24 PM
Received confirmation that I am one of 80 invited to attend the SpaceTweetup event over in Noordwijk in May.
A possible chance (1 in 8) to pose a question to André Kuipers live onboard the ISS. (That's André onboard the ISS, not me of course).
ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang will introduce participants to the Space Station and André’s PromISSe mission, followed by a tour of the Erasmus Centre and its displays of ESA’s microgravity research platforms. A tour of ESTEC will include the satellite test centre and space simulator.
spaceman Member
Posts: 1104 From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK Registered: Dec 2002
posted 05-09-2012 04:26 PM
Received confirmation that I am one of the 10 that will be speaking live to the ISS from Noordwijk later this month.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42986 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-09-2012 05:10 PM
That's great news Nick!
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42986 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 05-29-2012 12:54 PM
Kuipers Queried Via Social Media
Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency (ESA) discussed life and work aboard the International Space Station during a social media in-flight event May 29 with participants at ESA's space research center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
Kuipers, along with space station Commander Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Flight Engineer Don Pettit of NASA are scheduled to return to Earth in their Soyuz spacecraft for a landing in Kazakhstan on July 1.
carl walker Member
Posts: 360 From: Netherlands Registered: Feb 2006
posted 05-29-2012 04:26 PM
Well done Nick, first up! Hope you enjoyed the day, have safe trip home!
spaceman Member
Posts: 1104 From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK Registered: Dec 2002
posted 05-30-2012 04:05 PM
Fantastic event. If you get the chance to attend a tweetup at home or abroad do so.
We were split into four teams of 20 and had a behind the scenes tour of the centre and its facilities.
Friendly, interested and experienced staff made the day such a success and to get to ask Andre a question live was a (terrifying) exciting thrill.
I also met and got a chance to pose with Astronaut Christer Fuglesang he was the ESA/ESTEC to the ISS live linkman.
Eighty tweeps were invited to the ESA/ESTEC facility in the Netherlands yesterday to talk to ESA astronaut André Kuipers in a live video call to the International Space Station, I was one of the lucky 80.
We had been invited through ESA's Twitter account @ESA, to send a question we would like to ask André.
Ten Twitter followers then had the chance to ask their question directly to André, during the live call. I was one of the lucky 10 and as luck would have it the first caller.
I'm off to buy a Euro lottery ticket... it's a rollover.
Prior to the call which began at about 17.55 CEST we had mini guided tours that included;
An interactive 3D tour of the Space Station,
Demonstration of a zero-gravity drop tower in action
A walk inside a full sized Columbus module
A chance to take control via twitter of ESA’s Eurobot rover in Turin, Italy sending it simple commands
A tour of the ESTEC testing facilities - impressive
A presentation by ESA astronaut Christer Fugelsang, he gave a personal account of his two missions to the Space Station as well as introducing ESA's involvement in the orbital outpost, including the Automated Transfer Vehicle, Europe’s Columbus science module and the microgravity science programme.
Fellow cS'er Carl Walker was there too as an ESTEC representative and organiser. A big thank you to all of the staff that made it happen.