Community Corner

Leesburg Resident Visits Space Shuttle's Final Launch

Claudia Saleh is at Kennedy Space Center at a tweetup for the final launch of Endeavour.

UPDATE, 12:36 p.m.:The Washington Post reports that NASA has delayed Endeavor's launch by 48 hours because of technical problems.  

 

Leesburg resident Claudia Saleh (@claudiabia on Twitter) is getting as close to her childhood dream of space travel as a non-astronaut can get at Kennedy Space Center this week.

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Saleh was one of 150 Twitter users selected to attend a Tweetup organized by NASA for the final flight of shuttle Endeavour on Friday.

Saleh, a native of Brazil, specializes in panoramic 360-degree photography (http://dc360photos.wordpress.com/) and is a travel writer (http://www.aprendizdeviajante.com/).

Find out what's happening in Leesburgwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Saleh already was getting up close and personal with the space program at the event on Thursday. The tweeps interacted with NASA shuttle technicians, engineers, astronauts, managers and NASA’s social media team, and toured the Kennedy Space Center. The highlight will be Friday’s viewing the shuttle launch from the media area.

More than 4,100 @NASA Twitter followers applied for a slot at the Tweetup during a 24-hour period in mid-March.

On Thursday, Saleh posted a blow-by-blow account of her tours and experiences on Twitter.

She wrote about touring the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, where few tourists ever get to go. “About to go INSIDE the VAB!!! OMG!!! #NASATweetup,” she tweeted. She also wrote about what science the shuttle astronauts will be working on during the space flight: “When you launch bacterial to space, thei are more violent and nasty. Salmonela and Mersa will be launched with Endeavour #NASATweetup.”

Endeavour is targeted to launch on April 29 at 3:47 p.m. EDT on mission STS-134 to the International Space Station.

Patch local editor Edward Cardenas of St. Clair Shores, MI, caught up with her on Thursday as the Tweetup group toured the Kennedy Space Center. Cardenas is seeing his first shuttle launch as part of the NASA Tweetup and sharing the adventure with Patch. Follow along at www.twitter.com/scspatch or at www.stclairshores.patch.com.


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