Live Tweeting from Space – Performance Art with Astronauts

When I was a little girl and occasionally allowed to watch television, Star Trek was in re-runs, but it hadn’t been that long since man first walked on the moon. I watched James T. Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Scott, Dr. McCoy, and Lieutenant Uhura go to space. They got to meet lots of interesting people and see awe-inspiring things.

My family flew so often that I have no memory of a time when air travel was new to me, any more than I would recall my first time in a car.

I assumed then that, by the time I was a grown-up, commercial space flight would be commonplace. And I would get to do it. I have to admit I feel disappointed.

Something I never imagined growing up was a service which would allow science fiction television stars and real life astronauts to communicate via 140 character textual bursts. Chris Hadfield made me happy this week that, even if proper consumer space tourism is on hold, someone bothered to invent Twitter. Who is Chris Hadfield? He is the first Canadian to go to space and, apparently more notably, he has been delighting the entire internet by having a Twitter conversation with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and George Takei. From space. From the red shirt Canadian space man uniform to the people translating MBB and LLAP for the unitiated, this is hilarious and wonderful and really put a smile on my face. I love that that Chris Hadfield has what it takes to be a top astronaut and display a very entertaining sense of humor. The full set of Tweets in conversation can be found below, along with links to each of their Twitter accounts (as well as a link to the Canadian space program.)

What does LLAP mean? Live Long And Prosper. Best stated while doing Vulcan version of giving someone the finger four times (in a nice way.) What does MBB mean? Usually Money Before Bitches, but, in this case, it means My Best, Bill.

And, can I just say how much I appreciate Buzz Aldrin jumping in and saying that he and Neil Armstrong would happily have tweeted from the moon. Along with his wishes that humans make it to Mars by 2040! This whole exchange just gives me faith.

Chris Hadfield
@Cmdr_Hadfield

Mission specialist on STS-74 and STS-100. Currently living in space aboard ISS as Flight Engineer on Expedition 34, to be Commander of Expedition 35.

Orbiting Earth on ISS · http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp

William Shatner Verified ‏@WilliamShatner

@Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space? MBB

Chris Hadfield Chris Hadfield ‏@Cmdr_Hadfield

@WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface.

Leonard NimoyVerified ‏@TheRealNimoy

@Cmdr_Hadfield. LLAP

Chris Hadfield ‏@Cmdr_Hadfield

I am not Spock either, but living and working in this spaceship comes pretty close. Life mirrors art. LLAP, @therealNimoy.

Chris Hadfield Chris Hadfield ‏@Cmdr_Hadfield

I’m proud of being Canadian, but after yesterday’s twitter conversation am starting to question wearing this red shirt.

George Takei ‏@GeorgeTakei

.@Cmdr_Hadfield: I’m fine with beaming down with the away team, as long as I don’t have to wear the red shirt.

Buzz Aldrin ‏@TheRealBuzz

@Cmdr_Hadfield @WilliamShatner Neil & I would’ve tweeted from the moon if we could have but I would prefer to tweet from Mars. Maybe by 2040

Shortlink:

Posted by Amelia G on January 5, 2013. Filed under Headline, Personalities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry