This blog works contrary to the way blogs usually run and actually goes chronologically from top to bottom. Please click "older posts" at the bottom of each page to actually get to the "newer" posts. We hope you enjoy it!

The night before, the "tweeps" who were around met at Frenchies. Frenchies is a restaurant where all the crews come and eat. You can see some of the space memorabilia on the walls.

The brown-haired gentleman on the far right of this picture in the darker blue shirt is Mike Grabois. He was one of the NASA instructors who took the time to come out and meet with us. He also worked with us later at JSC.

The gentleman standing is Charlie Justiz. He was a NASA trainer for over 25 years. The woman sitting to his left is his wife, Dayna Steele. She was one of the "tweeps" and they live in Clear Lake, TX.




We each introduced ourselves with the usual information - where we live, what we do for a living, and our connection to/reasons why we love the space program.

Elissa talked about living in Buffalo, New York, and works as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Coordinator at City Honors School. It was said that we had been fortunate enough to see three launches: STS-72 from the NASA Causeway; STS-90 from the press center; and STS-109 from the press center.


Bill talked about how he is finishing his dissertation for his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and works for Moog.
He also mentioned our special connection to the STS-90 crew (see below).

(Side note: our waitress heard us say we were from Buffalo and came over to tell us that she was born there and her sister lives in Buffalo still. In fact, we found out she lives ON OUR STREET!)






We started the next morning with the breakfast of champions - waffles in the shape of the great state of Texas!














The main sign at JSC welcomed our group.

A sign taped to the door of the Gilruth Center at Johnson Space Center told us we were in the right place.













This large sign greeted us once we were inside. (At the end of our excellent adventure, the JSC Tweetup staff had us all sign this poster.) Here's Bill holding the sign.










 



Each of us were given badges (the pins were ours - mementos of three launches we've seen) and NASATweetup Lanyards.

















Each participant was given a bag of "NASA Goodies" that included a program of our activities for the day - the back page listed the participating "tweeps."



We are the top two listed on the right hand side.












We were split into two groups of 15 each - Red and Blue. Our group, the Red Group, went to the SIM first.












History is everywhere in the buildings at JSC. Here are pictures of the Apollo 11 crew (the 42nd anniversary was the day after our visit - July 20).










Ed Gibson, a native of Kenmore, NY (center of photo) flew on the last Skylab mission in 1973.













A picture of all three Skylab missions.










We couldn't NOT take a picture of the STS-90 crew. Jim Pawelczyk, the only shuttle astronaut from Erie County, NY (pictured far left), was a payload specialist on this mission.

We were the only Western New York "press" that covered his launch.

A year later, we traveled to Poland with Jim and two other crew members as guests of state. Jim flew a Polish flag on the shuttle and returned it to the Polish President as a run up to Poland's entry into NATO and in celebration of their May 1st Constitution Day ceremonies.





American Airlines Pilot & Lockport, NY resident Ron Franco (@chariot401); Houstontonian and local rock radio DJ icon, Dayna Steele (@daynasteele); Bill (@buffalobill1); and Elissa (@elissabflo) were the first group to go.




This white board was in the control room for the Motion-based Shuttle SIM. On it is the plan for the last time the STS-135 crew used the SIM before they headed to KSC for their launch.






Here's an article about the last time the crew of STS-135 used the Motion-based Shuttle SIM on July 1, 2011.  They left for KSC and their launch after that.

Pilot Ron Franco was "commander" for our SIM of ascent (shuttle lift off). After the SIM of launch finished, Ron was the first of us to "land" the shuttle at Kennedy Space Center.











 







Next to "land" the shuttle was Dayna Steele.


















Elissa took her turn next. Elissa is not a pilot, does not play one on TV, and has never had a flight lesson. She was able to "grease it in" and land on the centerline of the landing strip at KSC.










Bill, a pilot & engineer, was last to take the stick. The instructor was very quiet for most of Bill's flight SIM. Bill said he had the advantage of seeing the other three "fly" first and so he needed less guidance.

"Commander" Elissa Banas and "Pilot" Bill Banas in the NASA Motion-based Shuttle SIM.


On the side of this blog you'll find a link to videos of our time in the SIM and of our phone call with Astronaut Ron Garan (keep reading for more about that).

After we left the SIM, we were brought into the SIM control room.






Each of us was allowed to sign the logbook for the Motion-based Shuttle SIM.

Here's Ron signing the log. As a pilot, he can actually log the SIM time in his personal logbook.






Next, Bill signed the log. He also plans to log the SIM time in his pilot logbook. Behind him, Dayna Steele tweets about her experience in the SIM.








Here is Elissa also signing the log book for the Motion-based Shuttle SIM. She is not a pilot and will not be logging her SIM time in any logbook - maybe a scrapbook, but not a pilot's logbook.













After the SIM, Astronaut Clayton Anderson met and talked with us about the Space Shuttle program and NASA.








He was also kind enough to pose for pictures with all of us tweeps.





Here's an interview Dayna Steele did with him while we looked on in the SIM room.

The sheer number of photographs documenting the space program is mind-boggling.






This picture should need no introduction - it's of Neil Armstrong. The first man to walk on the Moon.













This picture is of Kenmore native (first ring suburb of Buffalo) Edward Gibson.












This final picture is of Rick Linnehan. We saw him launch at Kennedy Space Center on STS-90 and STS-109.














Here we are in front one of the three remaining Saturn V rockets. The other two are at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida and the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.









This is the outside of the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL). The NBL is where astronauts train for EVAs (spacewalks). Inside is a water tank that is 40 feet deep, 102 feet wide, and 202 feet long.
































It's named after Sonny Carter.


































The Sonny Carter Training Facility (SCTF) provides controlled neutral buoyancy operations to simulate the zero-g or weightless condition that is experienced by spacecraft and crew during space flight. It is an essential tool for the design, testing and development of the International Space Station and future NASA programs. For the astronaut, the facility provides important pre-flight training for extravehicular activities (EVA) and with the dynamics of body motion under weightless conditions. Also, be sure to read the rationale behind building the NBL -- a "better, faster, cheaper" solution for providing quality EVA preparations.





















This is a hyperbaric tank on site at the NBL.




There are six to seven divers that stay with an astronaut in the water while he/she is training for an EVA. EVA suits weigh over 200 lbs. In the microgravity of space, that's no problem. On Earth, it means an astronaut needs to be monitored at all times as well as needing help getting out of the water.





While at the NBL, a local news station, KHOU 11, interviewed us and a few other "tweeps" for a news story about the Tweetup.

Just after we left the NBL, we found out that Astronaut Ron Garan, who was aboard the International Space Station, had tweeted a shout out to us and wanted to know if we had questions. Click on this picture to enlarge it and read the exchange between Ron and some of the tweeps.







After I tweeted a question that he responded almost immediately to, we got off the bus and headed into Mission Control. All 30 of us were again together for this part of the tour.







First, we were taken into the viewing gallery of the Mission Control Center for STS-135 Atlantis. There is another Mission Control Center that is almost identical to this that is used for the ISS.





While we were in the gallery, a phone went off. We had been explicitly told to turn off our phones (and use no flash photography - hence the "dark" photos). So, when the phone went off, we thought someone was going to be in trouble!




Instead, it was Astronaut Ron Garan (@astro_ron) calling the phone of one of the PAOs (Public Affairs Officers) to talk to us from the ISS!!!!

Everyone ran to gather around the phone, listen to him talk, take pictures of the phone, record the conversation, and maybe get out a question or comment. Ron was very gracious and it was SO COOL to talk to someone while they were orbiting the Earth! You can access the video of this conversation here (it's the last video) or through an iReport for CNN.com that one of the tweeps, @AbsolutSpaceGuy submitted.















The highlight reel continued to roll after our talk with the space station and we were taken into the Apollo Mission Control Center. This is the room you've seen in movies like Apollo 13 and the HBO Series From the Earth to the Moon. It was used throughout Apollo and for the first 15 or so years of the Space Shuttle Program (this was Mission Control during the Challenger disaster).











It is now designated a National Historic Landmark and most visitors to JSC get to sit in the gallery and look at it. We, however, were allowed to walk around, sit down, and touch whatever we wanted! It was absolutely incredible to be in that room where so much history was made. NASA Flight Director Dr. Greg Holt talked to us about the history of the room.




























Of course, most of us could not help but sit there and pretend to "work the problem," "not make things worse by guessin'," and "look at this thing from a... um, from a standpoint of status...[and figure out...] What do we got on the spacecraft that's good?"




































Memorabilia and plaques line the walls of the Apollo Mission Control Center. It was used for Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle program through 1995.