Fangirl, Taking Off

I’m famous!

Well, maybe I’m not famous, per se.
But my tweet is famous!
The Wall Street Journal (along with other news sources) had this story from the Associated Press, on Monday’s launch of the Atlantis Space Shuttle (STS-129). A bit more than halfway through the article came this reference to the NASA Tweetup:

NASA officials were pleased with the seemingly perfect launch, but the Twittering invitees were downright ecstatic. They were among the first to sign up online last month for the opportunity to see a launch up close, and filed Twitter updates practically nonstop.

“Never been more proud to be a geeky, dorky, intelligent space fangirl!!” one wrote a few hours before liftoff.

Wow, aside from there being an awful lot of adjectives in there, that seems like a pretty cute tweet! Enthusiastic, proud of our space program, self-identifying as a geek and a dork, not to mention intelligent. Using the colloquial term fangirl, which everyone knows can only be used by someone effortlessly hip, who is well versed in new media.
I’m sure you can’t imagine what adorable Tweeter could possibly have typed those priceless less-than-140 characters, right? Wait, you guessed? Really? Way to steal my moment, people. Okay, yes, it was me! Little ‘ole me! I tweeted the tweet that summed up the whole experience for old media.
Though, now that you mention it, no one really knows it was my tweet. The Associated Press didn’t credit the tweet. So, unless you were following the Twitter stream, you probably wouldn’t know. But I’m stating it here, with proof, for posterity, and, well, because it is so cool! Here it is, my actual tweet, tweeted by me on the twitterrific Twitter:

Never been more proud to be a geeky, dorky, intelligent space fangirl!! #nasatweetup

11:49 AM Nov 16th from Echofonhttp://twitter.com/JSWadley/status/5769466780

Wow! That seems so moving, such a perfect sum-up of a momentary emotion. In fact, it makes me realize that, really, many of my tweets were deserving of national press. They are important, vital inoculations of information in teeny, tiny doses. And, just for your reading pleasure and continued education, I provide them for you. You may thank me by calling me a cheeky strumpet.

Look how close we are to the VAB!! #nasatweetuphttp://twitpic.com/pr42q9:19 AM Nov 16th from Echofon
Why yes, that is me. AT THE COUNTDOWN CLOCK!! Geeky Vanna! #nasatweetup http://twitpic.com/pr6gx9:45 AM Nov 16th from Echofon
Articulate geeks FTW! Just got interviewed! ;-) #nasatweetup11:55 AM Nov 16th from Echofon
Checking out actual samples of the heat shield tiles. The ceramic glass coating is like an eggshell! #nasatweetuphttp://twitpic.com/prlsw12:09 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
Can you believe the size of these nuts? They split in half to release the shuttle during launch. #nasatweetuphttp://twitpic.com/prm9812:13 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
@gfitz: We’re in a fancy #twent, with tables & ac, not on stands. & lots with laptops. Here’s a look. #nasatweetuphttp://twitpic.com/prqej12:48 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
Who’s this cute astronaut? ;-) #nasatweetuphttp://twitpic.com/prv1a1:26 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
Stopping to think for a minute. Taking it all in. This experience is so humbling, an honor that I will never forget.#nasatweetup2:16 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
Standing where I am, I can see the clock 30 feet from me, and have a perfect view of the launch pad. #nasatweetup2:24 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
This is the shot you get when you’re crying too hard to take press the button. #nasatweetup http://twitpic.com/ps5w52:49 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
Found my words: Beautiful. Amazing. A blast-off of science and human ingenuity and bravery and tenacity and love, yes love! #nasatweetup2:54 PM Nov 16th from Echofon
A final thought – focus on the powerfully positive experience we’ve shared and the future for NASA is bright! #nasatweetup4:00 PM Nov 16th from Echofon

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 4:51 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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