Tweeting from space
07 Aug 2009
The US Army may be frowning on the use of social networking sites by its members here on Mother Earth, but out in space the rules will not apply as NASA astronaut Col Tim Kopra becomes the first crew member of the International Space Station to use Twitter services. NASA officials said Col Kopra will discuss living conditions and working in orbit.
Army colonel Kopra's first tweet was despatched from space on 4 August and the next one travelled on 6 August.
The latest tweet discusses his failed attempt to photograph the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, from a space station window. He wasn't quick enough apparently.
''Still amazed @ how fast we travel frm Baja Peninsula 2 Canada,'' Kopra wrote.
Kopra's Twitter name is @Astro_Tim. He is part of space shuttle Endeavor's crew that docked on 17 July.
According to NASA, Col Kopra intends to send regular Twitter messages about what it is like to be a flight engineer in space. They also clarified that he will answer questions submitted on the Army's Web site.
On his first space flight, Col Kopra completed his first spacewalk on 18 July, according to NASA.
Twitter has been used earlier - though on terra firma - when NASA astronaut Mike Massimino used the site to chronicle his training for the May 2009 space shuttle Atlantis mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
