Winging Away

OUTBOUND: Today we all took off for our various Thanksgiving adventures. My adventure started at about 2:45 this a.m., when I got up and at 'em to head to the airport. Rick was kind enough to drop me off. I was in line at the American Airlines counter at Sea-Tac airport with a few dozen other travelers by 3:45 a.m.

My first flight was PDX to DFW (The stars at night, shine big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas!). The trip to Dallas was a, shall we say, cozy ride. There was a really nice and really friendly (thank goodness) really big man in the middle seat, next to me. Between him (he put his weight at 400 pounds) and the guy in front of me with his seat fully reclined, I felt like a sardine in a tin can. I couldn't move for 3.5 hours.

Once I was sprung free, I had the pleasure of making one of those run across/through the airport dashes to catch my connection - carrying 30 pounds of cookies. I barely made it.  

The flight to Orlando was much less full. I saw some of the prettiest clouds ever. I think these snow capped peaks might have been the Rockies, but I'm not sure.

Upsides - my luggage didn't get lost (yay!) and getting the rental car was easy. The drive to the hotel was a breeze. And the hotel, well, hmm. Let's just say it was bad enough to drive my friend Rosemarie and her daughter to another place. My room isn't quite as bad as theirs was ...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, campus, CJ and Annabelle were prepping to go on a trip with Christian to Siletz via Vancouver. Just one problem - Christian got called into work. With me 30,000 feet aloft, he had to call in the Calvary - also known as Rick and Ken. We are sure are lucky they live so close and were available and willing to help.

TWEET TIME: Originally, the Mars Science Laboratory Tweetup was scheduled for Wednesday (Nov. 23) and Friday (Nov. 25). The launch got pushed to the 26th due to a battery needing to be swapped out. Now, the tours and presentations will be Friday instead of Wednesday. Here's part of the update I received tonight:

Dear NASA Tweetup participants,

If you didn’t see the tweet, this note is to let you know that the team worked very hard and was able to move our tour from Wednesday to Friday. The really cool part about this is it means when we visit Launch Complex 41, we’ll be able to see the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the launch pad! We also get to go inside the Vehicle Assembly Building and will get to see space shuttle Endeavour there. We’re very lucky to have such great access!

On Friday, the agenda will essentially be as it was scheduled for Wednesday.

(On Friday) the program begins at 9 a.m. with welcomes and introductions. The televised portion of the program will begin at 11 a.m. and continue through to 12:45 p.m. It will be broadcast on UStream at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tweetup and NASA TV’s Education Channel available at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/edu_flash.html.

Following lunch, we’ll board the buses for the tour beginning at 2 p.m. You can expect to return to the press site about 6 p.m.

On launch day ... expect to be at the press site by 6:45 a.m. for the group photo. We then have a great program for you with Doug Ellison, astronaut Doug Wheelock, Bill Nye the Science Guy, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, astronaut and head of NASA Education Leland Melvin, and a special guest to be announced tomorrow.

We’ll send an updated agenda tomorrow. Have a wonderful evening and enjoy your Wednesday! Thank you for your patience as we made adjustments to the schedule. It should be a great week!

Cheers,
Stephanie (NASA's social media manager)

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Speaking of Mars, here's a cool, short (just 60 seconds) video explaining "How Do You Get to Mars?" By NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory It talks about what it takes to get a spacecraft from Earth all the way to Mars:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=121464191