NASA Celebration: #FollowFriday

All this month, I'm NASA! This means every weekday in March will feature a new post about NASA, and I'm hosting a giant giveaway in order to encourage people to spread the NASA love. For more information on the giveaway, check out this post.

______________________________________

#FollowFriday

One fo the things that's awesome about the world today is how accessible the world has become. 

When I was growing up, I sort of felt that astronauts (and writers!) were so far out of my reach. Now, I can pop on Twitter and talk to an astronaut orbiting the planet.

We live in the future, y'all. I may not have a jetpack yet, but this is a pretty close second!

Anyway, if you're on Twitter, here's a list of astronauts, astrophysicists, and other cool people you should follow :)

NASA Programs

@NASA

The real deal: NASA's official Twitter feed.

@NASAKennedy

Official tweets from NASA's Kennedy Space program in Florida

@NASA_Johnson

Official tweets from NASA's Johnson center in Texas.

@NASA_Hubble

The official Twitter of the Hubble Space Telescope, aka the greatest source of space eye-candy.

@NASAedu

NASA's education program's official tweets

@NASASolarSystem

NASA's Planetary Science Division: sending robots into space to explore planets.

@NASAVoyager

The official account for the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecrafts, "the longest currently-operating spacecraft in deep space."

@LunarOrbiter

The 1960s NASA Lunar Orbiter Missions are still working and sending new images and data back to Earth.

@Messenger2011

The NASA Discovery Mission to Mercury--the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

@NASA_GoddardPix

Want the best NASA pics and videos delivered to you Twitter stream? Follow these guys.

@NASA_Lunar

Their whole bio is "Moon science rocks." If you love the moon, this one's for you.

@MarsCuriosity

This is the Mars Rover, which landed on Mars last August.

@CassiniSaturn

"Cruising around Saturn, its moons and the magnificent rings"

@NASAHistory

Love to know all about the past? Check out NASA's history.

@AstrobiologyNAI

Looking for aliens? Start here.

NASA Astronauts

@TheRealBuzz

You guys. This is BUZZ ALDRIN. For reals. According to his bio, he lives on Mars, and I'm inclined to believe this is true.

@NASA_Astronauts
Follow this twitter to hear from ALL the NASA astronauts on Twitter.

@Astro_Flow

Current head of NASA Education, former astronaut who flew on the STS-120

@bethbeck

From her bio: "NASA Space Operations Outreach Manager. My job: Inspire others with the drama & magic of space. My advice: Turn off the TV. Watch the heavens unfold."

@AstroDude

NASA Astronaut

@Astro_Wheels

Astronaut, space station commander, aspiring poet.

@ZeroG_MD

Dr. Robert L. Satcher, former astronaut.

@Astro_Doug

Colonel Doug Hurley, pilot of shuttle missions STS-127/135

@Astro_Ferg

Christopher Ferguson, former astronaut currently working on the CST-100

@Astro_Clay

Clayton C. Anderson, retired astronaut currently working with NASA as a STEM Ambassador, and inventer of the Twitpic of the Day

Astrophysicists and Other Cool Scientists

@TheScienceGuy

This is Bill Nye. You know, the science guy.

@NeilTyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the coolest astrophysicist on the block.

@Astro_Pettit

Astronaut and scientist who tweets lots of space pictures!

@TomJones_astro

Astronaut, scientist, more.

International Space Station

@ISS_Research

The official twitter feed of the ISS research department--the world's laboratory in orbit.

@AstroMarshburn
Thomas H. Marshburn, NASA astronaut currently on the ISS.

@AstroCoastie
Dan Burbank, NASA astronaut currently on the ISS.

@Astro_Suni
Sunita Williams, NASA astronaut currently on the ISS.

@Cmdr_Hadfield

Commander Chris Hadfield

Astronaut for the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) program currently in orbit around Earth at the ISS and tweeting pictures he sees from the window. Seriously.

@AstroDaveMD

Canadian astronaut on the ISS.

@Astro_Soich

Currently on a long duration space flight on the ISS

@Astro_Cady

Astronaut from Baikonur, Kazakhstan currently on ISS

@AstroSamantha

Italian astronaut on the ISS; many tweets in Italian.

@Astro_Luca

Italian astronaut on the ISS; most tweets in English.

______________________________________

This post is a part of the month-long celebration of NASA I'm hosting on my blog. In order to encourage people to celebrate NASA, I'm also hosting a giveaway!

One grand prize winner will receive all the books in the recent Breathless Reads tour, signed, as well as ARCs of two anthologies and a signed Breathless Reads poster:

As well as swag from NASA, courtesy of Kate @ Ex Libris:

To celebrate NASA creatively: you could blog about why you like NASA, you could reach out to an astronaut for an interview, you could make space fan art, you could sing a song about NASA, you do a vlog, you make a list of all the ways NASA rocks...any of this counts! Just celebrate NASA in some awesome way, post it online, and include the link in the Rafflecopter. I even set that part of the entry open for multiple entries, so you could blog and vlog and Facebook and tumblr and Pinterest about NASA and they all count. The only requirements: post a link back to this contest, and put the full URL of the site in the Rafflecopter. Full details here.

To enter: be sure to read the full rules and terms of the contest here. Then fill out the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway