Skyview teacher lands spot at final shuttle launch
Todd Seip is one of 150 NASA Twitter followers who have been chosen by lottery to watch the final shuttle launch next month.
Skyview teacher lands spot at final shuttle launch By LORETTA SWORD
The space shuttle might have been on the drawing board, but Twitter wasn't even a twinkle in a computer guru's eye when Todd Seip first fell in love with the idea of galactic exploration.
But it's Twitter that opened the door for the Skyview Middle School science teacher to experience something he's dreamed of since he was a child.
Seip leaves for Florida July 5 and will join 149 other @NASA Twitter followers who won a lottery for a two-day "Tweetup" that includes spots for each of them at Florida's Kennedy Space Center to watch as Atlantis lifts off July 8 on the shuttle program's final mission — a trip to the International Space Station.
Seip said he and other Tweetup winners will have wide access to the space center for a full day before the launch and after. They'll get to sit down with former and current astronauts, NASA engineers technicians and other experts in the shuttle program.
He has permission to videotape the country's last shuttle launch from his seat in the media section near the launch pad, as well as parts of the space center tours and interviews with officials there.
But he'll be tweeting highlights of his space center stay from day one as his part of the NASA Twitter promotion.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said, adding that some former students already follow him on Twitter, and he hopes many in next year's science class will pick up his social networking feed during the historic launch and throughout his time at the space center.
Of course, they're guaranteed to hear all about it once school starts.
"Everything I pick up from the experts — the videotape I take and everything I see and experience — I'll use in my classroom next year," Seip said.
After watching all of the Apollo launches as a child, and amassing a scrapbook of space-related stories throughout his high school years — including the first-ever shuttle launch in 1981 — Seip said he also was among NASA's first and most eager followers on Twitter.
He's applied for lotteries to watch four previous shuttle launches and is thrilled to finally have won before the shuttle program shuts down.
Seip's wife Kerry, the band director at Pueblo County High School, just returned from Florida for a competition and performance there, so neither she nor the couple's two 7-year-old children, a son and daughter, will accompany Seip on his NASA adventure.
"We got space shuttle Lego kits for them to build the day of the launch to keep them interested," he explained.
For a man who once dreamed of being an astronaut (until he realized the level of math he'd have to master), spending a couple of days with NASA experts and watching an historic shuttle launch is as good as it gets — except for the opportunity to share it with space fans worldwide and his students, Seip said.
“It is quite an honor. This is the last space shuttle mission and to get to watch it live will be a fantastic experience. I’ve always been a big fan and follower of NASA and I have kept track of the space shuttle program from the first launch in 1981. Now I’ll get a chance to create a new experience for my students.”
Pueblo tweeters can follow Seip's adventure at twitter.com/@skyviewscience.
