Corey Alderdice, director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, had an out-of-this world opportunity this week — and he didn’t even have to leave the planet.
Alderdice traveled to the Johnson Space Center in Houston this week to participate in a NASA Social Media event. NASA invited 50 social media users to participate in an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of the central hub of human space exploration.
NASA Social Media participants had the opportunity to:
• meet an astronaut and the people who train and support them in space;
• tour special locations around the Johnson Space Center, including the current International Space Station and Historic Apollo Mission Control rooms, mockups of the space station and the new Orion Spacecraft and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a huge pool where astronauts train for spacewalks;
• hear from NASA experts as they explain the many analogies that exist between football and America’s space program;
• learn about current scientific experiments under way aboard the space station and new experiments planned to launch in the future;
• see how the space station is being used as a scientific laboratory to test groundbreaking, new technologies that will help astronauts safely reach deep space destinations; and
• meet NASA’s social media team and fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media.
The NASA Social Media event was designed to engage people who actively use multiple social networking platforms to help the space organization to reach unique, separate and distinctive audiences compared to traditional news media and NASA audiences.
During the event, participants had the opportunity to learn about the new Orion spacecraft, which will carry humans on a journey to Mars, and to interact with American astronauts on the International Space Station.
“The #NASASocial event was an incredible opportunity to see the scope of the federal agency’s work and the passion that fuels those efforts,” Alderdice said. “Now, more than ever, it is important for members of the public to connect with federal agencies like NASA to understand the critical work they do that contributes to the lives of all Americans.
“We talk a lot about encouraging our students to reach for the stars, but the work of scientists, engineers and astronauts within the space program is the literal embodiment of that statement. Whether it’s developing new modes of transportation, setting the state for human exploration of Mars, or the advancements that come from research conducted aboard the International Space Station, NASA continues to set the standard for American imagination and ingenuity.”
Participants were chosen on a case-by-case basis through an application process. The event was held this week in conjunction with NFL Super Bowl activities. Houston is serving as host for this year’s game on Sunday. Participants were encouraged to document their visit on social media platforms using the hashtags #NASASocial, #SpaceBowl and #SB51.
To learn more about NASA Social Media events, visit http://asmsa.me/nasasocialpg.