As the August 20, 2010 date for the 2010 Space Camp Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony continues to close in, it’s worth mentioning that nominations are currently being solicited.

The nominations are due in by May 6, 2010 so as to give Space Camp enough time to sort though all of the excellent candidates and choose those that will make it into the fourth class of Space Camp Hall of Fame inductees.

So if you know someone worthy of consideration, and they meet one of the three categories, be sure to get a nomination form in for them!

It seems Dottie will be getting an extra day in orbit as STS-131 has had their mission extended a day to allow for extra time to inspect Discovery’s heat shield.

From SpaceFlightNow:
When the Ku-band system is working, they will actually do that late inspection after they have undocked and that will clear the thermal protection system for entry. Since we need to use the ISS Ku-band system to downlink all those files and the video, obviously we need to do that before they have undocked. So we needed to have the time to perform those inspections.

I guess she’ll just have to cope with the delay! Somehow, I think she and the rest of the crew will manage.

Al Whitaker, Media Relations Director at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, saw my post from yesterday critiquing the Space Center for mixing politics into its social media efforts and has swiftly taken action to rectify the situation!

As requested, here is his response, reposted here in full:

Vince,

Touché! Your editorial, "Politics and Social Media", was unfortunately right on the mark and deserving of an explanation.

We have, as of late, been making more of an effort to engage the social media channels as a means of communicating with our campers, customers and those like you and I, who love the space program. For me personally, Facebook has become something of a hobby as well as a means of connecting with old friends, some business associates and posting an occasional rant or news item about current events. 

Some time before the Space Center officially embraced the idea, several of us, independently and on our own accord, started our own Space Camp or Space & Rocket Center page with the idea of promoting the Center and its programs. In addition to creating the U.S. Space & Rocket Center page on Facebook, I also had, at one time, a Space Camp page. However, I focused my efforts on my personal page and the other pages I created just basically sat there. 

Several months ago, our Marketing Department began making an organized and concerted effort to create a presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter, and there are now several employees here who's job it is to frequently check and update those sites as necessary. In fact, one of them used Twitter extensively from the Kennedy Space Center this week to update followers on the launch of STS-131 and our first Space Camp grad to fly in space. I was asked, and readily agreed several months ago to relinquish my Space Camp page to the Center in an effort to avoid confusion and have only one official Space Camp page on Facebook. Today, I'm proud to say, it's thriving! Unfortunately, at that time no thought was given to my other page. 

Late this week, one of our computer gurus sat down with me to help iron out a couple of Facebook issues and we found the U.S. Space & Rocket Center page I had created. Being reminded it was there is why only one update has been posted to the page since its creation, and that was the update on the moonbuggy races Friday. 

So, as of yesterday, Andrew, the computer guru I mentioned, is one of the administrators of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center page on Facebook, and other employees will be added next week as this becomes one of our official pages. The favorite page you referenced has been removed because as you correctly pointed out, sitting all alone as it was it seemed inappropriate and quite one-sided. Fact is, that's not the place for political statements or endorsements of any kind and none will follow. 

Vince, I honestly appreciate you bringing this to our attention so the appropriate action could be taken. This page is in its infancy and it's my hope we can further develop it into a tool that will promote interest in Space Camp, the Space Center, its programs and exhibits, and for that matter the manned space flight program in general. I hope you will continue to monitor our efforts and bring any other concerns to our attention. If I may ask, would you consider posting this to your website so that others who read your original post will have our explanation, also. Thank you. 

Regards,

Al Whitaker

If you haven’t noticed, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center has been getting into Social Media in a much bigger way than in years past. I dare say they’re beginning to embrace it. I might even go out on a limb and state that the powers-that-be might have figured out that it’s savvy business sense to keep your customers engaged with your product for more than one week out of the year.

What they haven’t seem to have shaken though is the same partisan politics that has polarized much of the nation for the past 10 to 234 years.

If you decide you want to let everyone know that you’re a fan of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center on Facebook, you might be perplexed to see, as the screenshot below shows, of all the different people, places, and events the Space & Rocket Center could list amongst its favorites, only Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown has made the grade.

The Marshall Space Flight Center, or NASA as an entire organization just don’t seem to make the cut. How about the Kennedy Space Center? Dottie just launched into space from there.

What about the Great Moonbuggy Race, perhaps? After all, you do host that event.

Right now it smacks of a social media platform being driven by someone at the Center letting their political view seep in, if only just a little bit.

People that wouldn’t count Sen. Brown amongst their favorites visit museums and send their kids to Space Camp, too, and seeing a somewhat polarizing political figure (aren’t they all, these days) may not be putting your best foot forward.

And I don’t think you can afford to alienate anyone, left, right, or center.

With the conclusion of the opening ceremonies, tomorrow begins the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race of 2010!

Once again, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will be host to teams of high school and college students from all around the country and the world!

As usual, the high school teams will make their runs on Friday and the college students will run their buggies on Saturday.

If you’re in the area, I highly recommend coming out the Space & Rocket Center to see the amazing designs the young engineers put together, along with all of the incredible thrills and the occasional spills! You won’t regret it!

But if you can’t make it down to the Space Center, they’ll be trying a live broadcast this year! From the comfort of your own home, you can enjoy said thrills and spills!

The live broadcast will appear at the Moonbuggy homepage, as well as the NASA Educational Channel. But if you have trouble viewing it on that site tomorrow and/or Saturday, then try this page.

Or you can view it right here:

Free TV : Ustream

And if they happen to have the camera pointed at the LEM obstacle in Rocket Park on Saturday, you might just spot a certain familiar and bright green webmaster volunteering as an obstacle judge!

And be sure to check out the Great Moonbuggy Race Blog. The most recent post highlights a member of the German contingent and how she’s spent her time in Alabama thus far. And there are other great posts as well, all in the lead-up to race day! You can also view The Moonbuggy Race Twitter feed, for real-time updates from around the race!

Meanwhile, a sneak peak of the Ohio State Team’s Moonbuggy can be seen along with a team overview from an article posted in OSUs student newspaper, The Lantern.

Best of luck to all of the students involved in this year’s Great Moonbuggy Race!

With the successful launch of STS-131 this fine morning, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger became the first Space Camp alumnus to reach orbit!

Despite a minor setback with the mission plan, the crew of STS-131 is sure to have a successful mission.

And then there will only be three.

Several of Space Camp’s staff were on hand in Florida this morning to witness firsthand this proud day in Space Camp’s illustrious history.

If you missed their live Tweets, be sure to visit the official Space Camp Twitter feed for photos and merriment from the Cape!

Space Camp has also issued an official press release celebrating Dottie’s historic space shot!

ny shuttle launch is a very exciting and special event.

But STS-131, scheduled to lift-off from Launch Complex 39-A tomorrow at 6:21am EST, is particularly special for Space Camp.

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Space Camp’s first alumnus astronaut and Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee, will make her very first space-shot!

Representatives from Space Camp are down at the Cape right now to witness the launch, and as you can see above, Discovery’s sitting on the pad, ready to go!

Be sure to check out Space Camp’s Twitter Feed for their updates from Florida.

Dottie has been kind enough to take with her to space a full complement of Space Camp, Space Academy, and Aviation Challenge wings!

For a stroll down memory lane, check out Dottie’s Hall of Fame induction video from 2007. She was a recently minted astronaut at that point, preparing even then for the fantastic voyage on which she’s about to embark: