In the Field with Social Media at Kennedy Space Center
(Photo taken at KSC during the NASA Social event)
In early October, AIA participated in a NASA social media event in conjunction with the Space X Falcon9 and Dragon capsule launch. This was a historic moment for commercial space flight as it was the first in a series of commercial resupply (CRS) missions to the International Space Station (ISS). During the mission the Dragon capsule carried 1,000 pounds of supplies to support the crew and 166 planned investigations. For this mission, appropriately designated CRS-1, the NASA Social Program held an in-person event that allowed individuals with the unique ability to share information in a significant way on social media platforms to join the traditional NASA press pool.
This event gave participants the opportunity to go behind the scenes at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and communicate with senior NASA officials and SpaceX executives for two days of press-related events. Activities included pre- and post-launch press briefings with SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, a social media question and answer session with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, an ISS and mission science briefing, launch pad site visit and the actual launch viewing. AIA was actively engaged throughout the multiday event and continuously provided updates via Facebook and Twitter on the activities that were taking place. Additionally, AIA encouraged event participants to learn more about what the aerospace and defense industry is doing to advance the future of spaceflight by following the association on Facebook and Twitter.
(Photo of the Falcon 9 rocket ignition: photo courtesy of SpaceX)
During the question and answer segment with Administrator Bolden, AIA’s Multimedia Manager Adam Kostecki asked the Administrator about his thoughts on the pending fiscal cliff for the federal budget and what might happen to the future of spaceflight if sequestration were to take effect.The Administrator responded by expressing his concern for the future of manned spaceflight under a sequester policy.
AIA was asked to participate in an interview with the radio program Talking Space to discuss how social media plays a role in modern day space reporting. Kostecki participated in the interview and stated, “This has been a great experience because these Social events hosted by NASA allow NASA and SpaceX the opportunity to engage with a larger audience more immediately; an audience that may have not been reached previously by traditional media outlets.” The interview was rolled-into a segment called “The Traditional Way of Being Social,” and the full segment may be heard at the following link: http://www.talkingspaceonline.com/home/episode-433-the-traditional-way-of-being-social.html
AIA Source: adam.kostecki[at]aia-aerospace.org
