It seems that even twits have managed to reach the final frontier, with NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer sending out the first live tweet all the way from the dead of space – or at least from the comfort of the International Space Station.
Using the uninspired username @Astro_TJ, Creamer – sounding more like a Starbucks employee than member of the star-fleet – managed to beam a message reading:
“Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! 🙂 More soon, send your ?s.”
Now, now, no need to get all starry eyed, it’s hardly rocket science, people.
Apparently the Internet hook-up was enabled using Crew Support LAN, proving that some people will go to any lengths to check their email.
Seems the whole space tweet project was a bit more complex than we realize, though. On January 5th, a non-live tweet from Mr. Creamer [Surely Milky-Way?] proclaimed: “We should be working on the ability to tweet at the end of this coming week! Hurrying as fast as we can!”
This was followed up with another non live tweet on January 7th, promising: “If all goes well, we take a big step today toward being able to Tweet from orbit. Hang in there with me, & I’ll tweet soonest I can!”
On January 10th our Astro boy writes “MAJOR step forward toward getting live tweeting from space! Working hard to overcome the issues; SOON!!!”
Orbit later than soon, we presume.
Showing off his impressive grasp of science, something one would imagine essential in an astronaut, Creamer added on January 11th: “MORE progress on the techie stuff. I’m HOPING to tweet from orbit SOON!!!”
On January 13th, Creamer sent word to say he was “STILL struggling with techie probs, but wanted to thank u all for the Shorty Nomination! Hurrying fast as I can…”
Shorty nomination? No wonder Mr. Creamer has issues.
Finally, early Friday morning, the astronaut succeeded in his mission, providing one small tweet for man and one giant story for media kind.
Far out, dude (!!!)
