| | I introduced AeroTweets back in June. It's a great way to make connections with others in the aerospace field. Who knows what that could lead to- help with a school project, a new friend, or maybe even a job prospect? Twitter is also a great way to learn lots more about things than you could through traditional media.
When I look back, I think of so many opportunities missed, times when "if only I'd known about this then". An important part of your education is just learning about what's out there, what opportunities there are, and Twitter is an outstanding way to keep tabs with what's going on, whether it's a space project or even just the latest computer game update!
Now AeroTweets is following more than 1,300 NASA & industry engineers, pilots, astronomers, telescopes, spacecraft, etc. In fact it's pretty much become the norm that each new mission has its own Twitter account (and even an old mission, Lunar Orbiter – which is getting its photos enhanced and digitally archived – has got an account). Here's a few of the most interesting news & mission tweets you might want to follow:
NASA (news fed from http://www.nasa.gov/rss)
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (now undergoing thermal vacuum chamber testing-see LRO page, below)
LCROSS (flies with LRO to Moon in 2009)
India's Chandrayaan1, already there
Mars Phoenix
NASA EDGE (video news, etc.)
Space Vidcast, with lots of live video of launches, etc.
Flightglobal news
Google's Lunar X-Prize official account
Another thing you learn with experience is that relationships really are key. It's not just WHAT you know that matters, but also WHO you know. Maybe this doesn't seem fair, but in real life it's very hard to get anything done without trust, and trust comes from having known someone, preferably for a long time.
So it never hurts to start early working on building your professional network, even if you're still in high school. Here are just a few examples of the many interesting aero folks you can follow on Twitter (these guys are pretty busy, but who knows who YOU might be able to connect with, given time):
Astronaut Leroy Chiao (Ret.)
SEDS/ISU/X-Prize/Zero G/Space Adventures/etc. founder Peter Diamandis
Wayne Hale, former Space Shuttle Program Manager
CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien
and, of course, follow me @aeroG! 
Finally, I've found a lot of folks are reluctant to sign up for Twitter, which is a bit surprising considering it's free and rather simple to use, but I really want to encourage you to give it a try. If you need a little more of a nudge, consider what a couple of other folks have to say:
OpenNASA (@Skytland): Social Media: What's the Point?
Business Week Editor-in-Chief John A. Byrne (@JOHNABYRNE): Why I Tweet
So ... give it a try, and take a look at the AeroTweets list and some of these other accounts' following lists for interesting folks to listen to & learn from!! |
| | Posted 11/21/2008 12:36 PM - 302 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
