NASA MSL Social Event

NASA is holding a social media event at 5 of its centers on Aug 3 to spread the news about MSL.  NASA is looking for people with a strong presence on social media to go to one of the centers for special events:  http://www.nasa.gov/connect/social/social_curiosity_multi_aug2012.html  I suspect most of you don't want to go.  However, I think the idea is to have a social media blitz on MSL.  Thus, Aug 3 would be a great day to look for MSL information on Twitter, in blogs, and on other social media sites.  Here's the NASA response to the question:

What if I cannot come to the event?

If you cannot come to the NASA centers to attend in person, you should not register for the NASA Social. You can follow the conversation using the #NASASocial hashtag on Twitter. JPL may broadcast a portion of the program with live chat onhttp://ustream.tv/NASAJPL .

If you cannot make this NASA Social, don't despair; NASA is planning others in the near future at various locations. Check back on http://www.nasa.gov/social for updates.

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On the theme of 4th of July, NASA has a press release about the Spirt of 76 pyrotechnics that will fire on Curiosity after it lands on Mars.  http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-192  Many parts of the rover, such as the wheels, are all packed up during flight.  To break those packing bonds, the engineers set off "firecrackers".  The ones that hold the wheels are fired after the rover starts to be lowered to the surface, but before the wheels touch down.  (This reminds me that many of you are new to the list: watch this video:  http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1090 called 7 Minutes of Terror about landing!)