#NASASocial with Astronaut Joe Acaba

*Let me first start off with thanking NASA, NASA Social, and Astronaut Joe Acaba. 

The morning started bright, err not bright, and early with a 6 am spin class. I did not enjoy this spin class and left early to hit up the row machine before getting ready. I was ready and headed back to drop my car at the metro. I had downloaded the newest Thrilling Adventure Hour (TAH) podcast and was prepared for entertaining myself on the way into DC. I arrived at Federal Center and waited for Katy to arrive. Katy has a lot longer commute than me. Poor girl! She needs to move closer!

We grabbed coffee and I got breakfast before heading over to NASA HQ. Last time I was at NASA HQ was last October when I met Astronaut Sandy Magnus and Astronaut Chris Ferguson when they both came to NASA HQ for a NASA Tweetup. Such a fun time! The company was also a lot of fun! The difference between this time and last time was there was also an Air and Space event that morning with all the STS-135 astronauts and then the NASA event that afternoon. This time around, it was just the event this morning. I lucked out both times because I am local to the area, but people come from all over just for a couple of hours. It is a crazy dedicated Space Tweep world.

Anyway, I digress. Katy and I grabbed coffee at the local Starbucks and headed to NASA HQ.

We picked up our badges, NASA swag bags, and then headed into the auditorium to get our seats. We chatted with some other space tweeps while we waited. They made an announcement that if your astronaut picture was not signed that you could come get a signed one. Mine was not signed so I headed down to get another and I saw Astronaut Joe Acaba! It was very tempting not to ask for a picture right there!

Eventually, a big crowd also saw Astro Joe and all went in for a picture. When in Rome. . .

It was very cool to meet him! It was even better knowing that I was at Space Camp working while he was in space! We quickly made our way back to our seats because it was time for things to start rolling. We were also on NASA TV so there was more of a time frame for this. The first portion was Astro Joe showing a video and talking about his time in space. The second portion was dedicated to taking questions from the audience and then the Spanish speaking audience. (Astro Joe has a Puerto Rican background.)

Before we knew it, the Social was over. We snapped a few more pics. . .

And then Katy and I headed out to find lunch. We were both more than ready to eat! We stopped at a little cafe type place right next door to NASA HQ. Apparently, this is where everyone went to eat during lunch time. No complaints though, because the food hit the spot. After lunch, we still had a little time to kill before Katy had to head back so we walked over to the National Air and Space Museum and then walked around the National Mall. The weather was amazingly warm for this time of year.

Before long, it was time to say our goodbyes and we both headed our separate days. Overall, it was a fun day! It was great catching up with Katy and getting away from working retail during the holiday season.