Tweetup With Seminole Heights Shuttle Watcher

NASA is set to embark on its final space shuttle mission this week, and people from the Tampa Bay area and all over the country say they don't want to miss it.

Allie Barkley of Seminole Heights will have a close-up view of when from Kennedy Space Center on Florida's east coast.

The 25-year-old administrative assistant was one of 151 people selected to take part in the official NASA Tweetup, a gathering of Twitter enthusiasts who will get to meet some special guests (including two astronauts and Elmo from Sesame Street), take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Kennedy Space Center and watch from a special tent about a mile from the launch pad, next to the countdown clock.

"It's the closest you can get without being on the shuttle," Barkley said.

Barkley admits she isn't a "space person" like many of the more than 5,000 people who entered NASA's Tweetup drawing, but she's since read up about the shuttle program, "mostly 'cause I don't want to sound stupid," she said. 

The Tweetup attendees instantly formed a close-knit group, Barkley said, planning a barbecue, a trip to a bar, and interacting with one another on Twitter. She planned to pick up one of her fellow tweeps at Tampa International Airport on Wednesday night before driving out to the launch site, and she's staying with a group of them in rental houses.

"It's so connected," Barkley said. "It's almost creepy how connected a group can be. But it's awesome. It's like a crazy community."

Attendees will use the hashtag #NASATweetup to describe their experiences on Twitter (you can follow Barkley directly at @thatgirlallie and Shimp at @shimpster).

Skip Coogan, a 41-year-old Bradenton resident watched his first launch in person in 1981 as a 10-year-old, grew up idolizing astronauts and saw dozens of lift-offs while living in Melbourne in the '90s. The self-professed "space geek," who now owns a computer repair business called Manasota Geeks, describes them in one word: "Awesome."

"It’s like a star rising from earth," Coogan said. "I can’t really put it into words."

He hopes his kids — Chloe, 6, and Skip, 3 — feel the same way after witnessing their first launch. Coogan and his wife, Demonica, will be driving the family over from Bradenton this week to watch from one of the beach access points south of Titusville.

Bryan Gifford of Land O' Lakes is also bringing his two sons, Skyler, 10, and Dakota, 7, in hopes of witnessing history. They won a lottery to purchase official viewing tickets — it cost about $120 for three of them, Gifford said — and will watch from the Kennedy Space Center visitors complex, about 7 miles from the launch pad.

"It’s the end of an era," said Gifford, 38, a Windows engineer. "It’s kind of bittersweet. I understand the economics behind it; (the shuttle program) didn’t turn out the way the planned economically. I hope they come up with something better, more economical."

NASA is set to retire its shuttle program after Friday's mission, STS-135, which will transport equipment and a crew of four to the International Space Station. After that, NASA will transition to new methods of space travel aimed at sending astronauts to asteroids and deep space.

For Coogan, it will be hard to say goodbye to the shuttle program he grew up with.

"I’ll probably get emotional," Coogan said. "It's like a death in the family."

Alex Shimp, a 32-year-old health care provider service rep from Largo who's seen six shuttle launches up close, is just the opposite.

"I am a NASA fan, a geek, an all-around space nerd," Shimp said while driving through Orlando on Wednesday afternoon headed east. "For me, this is a fitting way to spend the last launch, surrounded by friends and people who share the same passion as me."

WITNESSING HISTORY

Dena Craig, who owns , a grooming shop in Valrico, hopes to watch from a condo rental in Satellite Beach where she's staying this month with family.

"We can actually see the launch pads in the distance," Craig said. The 48-year-old, who lives in Mulberry, normally rents in New Smyrna Beach for the summer, but when shopping around for cheaper rates, they also considered getting a place closer to the launch site.

"Especially since it's the last one," said Craig, who watched one other shuttle launch about 15 years ago. "We thought it would be cool."

The launch is drawing attendees from elsewhere around United States, too.

Jason Grunstra, 33, a small business owner from San Francisco, is in the midst of a road trip with a few friends and plans to watch from Titusville.

"We weren't able to get 'official' launch tickets so we're going to have to scope out a good vantage point," Grunstra wrote in an e-mail from the road. "We've got some insider tips from a few people that have watched the launch before, but we're keeping those to ourselves until we can survey the area!"

Dan Bagrow, a historic preservation specialist from upstate New York, is driving down to watch in person.

So is Donny Counts of Earth City, Mo., who's taking "an arsenal of cameras and techie gear" on a road trip with a friend to document the launch.

NASA expects a crowd of 1 million people in the area to view the launch from official and unofficial viewing areas, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Micah Coffey, who manages Marker 57 at Cameron's Marina in Edgewater, about 30 miles north of the launch site, is hoping to draw a few dozen people to his bait and snack shop.

"It's nothing special, but it's better than sitting in traffic and possibly missing it," Coffey said. "It's a nice place to hang out and have some beers and watch the shuttle."

He's posted a YouTube video of Discovery's final launch in February as seen from the marina.

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