The International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

FIRST AMERICAN IN ORBIT, JOHN GLENN, TO HOST 50TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A TWEETUP


“CLEVELAND -- NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland will host
a special event on March 2 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John
Glenn's first orbital flight by an American. NASA also will invite
100 people for a behind-the-scenes Tweetup at GRC in advance of the
celebration event.

The Tweetup activities begin at 7:30 a.m. EST with a tour of Glenn's
world-class flight research and ground test facilities that support
aeronautics and space exploration. Participants will speak with
scientists and engineers about technologies being investigated and
developed.

Following the tours, the Tweetup will move to downtown Cleveland for
the Glenn tribute event. "Celebrating John Glenn's Legacy: 50 years
of Americans in Orbit," will be held at 1 p.m. at Cleveland State
University's Wolstein Center. The program will include a video
tribute and remarks by Glenn and agency and political officials.
Tweetup participants also will meet astronaut Greg "Box" Johnson and
other special guests.

On March 1, 1999, the Lewis Research Center was officially renamed the
NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in recognition of
Glenn's contributions to science, space and the State of Ohio. As one
of the original seven Mercury astronauts, Glenn trained in 1960 at
Lewis in the Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility.

Today, the center's research and technology development work focuses
on air-breathing propulsion; communications; in-space propulsion and
cryogenic fluids management; power, energy storage and conversion;
materials and structures for extreme environments; and physical
sciences and biomedical technologies in space.

Tweetup registration opens at noon on Friday, Feb. 3, and closes at
noon on Monday, Feb. 6. NASA will select 100 total participants,
including Twitter followers and their guests, by lottery from those
who register online. Because Glenn is a government facility with
restricted access, the event is open only to U.S. citizens and legal
permanent residents.

For more NASA Tweetup information and to sign up, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup"

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