With the next SpaceX cargo resupply mission coming up later this month, NASA has extended an invitation to social media users to travel to the Kennedy Space Center and watch the event up close and personal.
As NASA announced earlier this week, 40 members of the public will be selected to join the launch team at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and witness in person the Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon spacecraft payload take off from Space Launch Complex 40 on what will be SpaceX’s 15th cargo resupply mission (CRS-15) to the International Space Station (ISS).
The chosen space enthusiasts will be granted behind-the-scenes passage to the two-day event and will enjoy the unique opportunity to tour the NASA facilities at the Kennedy Space Center, take photographs of the launch facility and of the Falcon 9 rocket, and watch the late June launch right from the middle of the action.
“If your passion is to communicate and engage the world via social media, then this is the event for you! Seize the opportunity to be on the front line to blog, tweet or Instagram everything about SpaceX’s 15th mission to the space station,” NASA officials wrote in a news release.
To become one of the lucky few selected for this incredible opportunity, all you have to do is register on the space agency’s website until June 6 at 12:00 p.m. EDT and await confirmation that you have been chosen to take part in the two-day event. According to NASA, the first notifications will be sent around June 12, while the waitlist notifications will be publicized on June 15.
We’re opening our doors for social media users to come behind-the-scenes for the next @SpaceX cargo launch to the International @Space_Station , currently targeted for late June. Apply to attend this #NASASocial event at @NASAKennedy in Florida: https://t.co/0BtD73C70G pic.twitter.com/TWjf5ONTQf
— NASA (@NASA) June 1, 2018
In addition to receiving the kind of access to the CRS-15 mission launch that only news media typically has, the 40 rocket enthusiasts will also have the chance to speak in person with NASA and SpaceX representatives. At the same time, the social media users are encouraged to talk to the researchers involved in the science experiments that will soon make their way to the ISS and pick their brains on the latest research projects that are to be performed in microgravity.
The SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle set to make the next resupply run to the ISS will be delivering all sorts of science gear to the orbiting zero-g laboratory so that the astronauts can start working on biology and biotechnology experiments, as well as on projects pertaining to Earth and space science, physical sciences, and technology development, note NASA officials.
