This is cool --- another tweetup! #meetRay #HT4H

I was fortunate to attend two NASA "tweetups" (a Twitter-oriented play on "meetups") over the last couple years. The idea was for about 100 space geeks who were also involved in social media to visit the Kennedy Space Center for a couple days to meet various mission scientists, NASA officials, astronauts; to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the facilities; and to witness a launch, up close.
NASA wanted to engage social media though the eyes, ears, and fingers of the tweetup participants, to disseminate information and generate goodwill and excitement for NASA and its missions.
My first tweetup was for the launch of Juno, now on its way to Jupiter. Some posts:


http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2011/08/61-juno-pix-and-2-videos-posted-juno.html
http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2011/08/juno-launch-approaching.html
http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2011/07/more-on-upcoming-juno-mission-to.html
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/flanga_bucket/Juno%20to%20Jupiter/
The second was for the Mars Science lab, including Curiosity, the rover currently beginning its explorations on the Red Planet.
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/flanga_bucket/Mars%20Science%20Lab%20launch%20stills/
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/flanga_bucket/Mars%20Science%20Lab%20Tweetup%20and%20tour/http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2011/11/great-day-at-tweetup-msl-nasatweetup.html

http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2011/11/mars-science-lab-launch-pix-msl.html
Both were a blast --- literally!
Stephanie Schierholz was the NASA person who pulled these tweetups together, and she did a great job. She left NASA a short time later, and went to work for Raytheon here in Massachusetts, performing the same kind of social-media outreach.
In a "what are the odds?" kind of moment, I ran into Stephanie a week or so ago. I was walking the Fens; she was working on her plot in the Victory Gardens (http://fredlanga.blogspot.com/2012/08/exploring-boston-fenway-victory-gardens.html). She mentioned that Raytheon was about to have its first tweetup.
I signed up at the first opportunity, and tonight got word that I've been accepted.
Here's the deal:
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Dear Fred:

Congratulations! You have been selected to attend the Raytheon Tweetup

on Sunday, Nov. 11, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.! You’ll be joining Raytheon as we recognize 150 veterans and their guests.

You will have the opportunity to learn more about Raytheon and its capabilities across air, land, sea, space and cyber. You’ll meet our digital team and get a chance to talk with us about how we use social media to connect and engage. You’ll also get the chance to talk with our own Robert Curbeam, Jr., a retired US Navy captain and former NASA astronaut, about his work and the company’s commitment to those in uniform. Our community relations team will share more about the breadth of Raytheon’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.

And, of course, you will be our guest at the game, in which the New England Patriots take on the Buffalo Bills.

Raytheon will provide bus transportation between a designated location and the stadium before and after the game and noontime refreshments for Tweetup participants...

...

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I'll be live-tweeting much of the event, and will, of course, bring my camera.

This is gonna be fun!