NASA astronaut set to take Twitter questions today

Mike Massimino, the first person to Twitter from space, will answer tweets live on NASA TV

The first astronaut to Twitter from space will be fielding questions from users of the micro-blogging site this afternoon.

Mike Massimino, who was part of the space shuttle Atlantis crew that repaired and upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope last month, will be answering questions from his Twitter followers on NASA TV and on Ustream.com. Massimino made headlines when he became the first astronaut to Twitter about his flight training and then the first person to ever Twitter from space.

NASA announced on Tuesday that Massimino, who is known as astro_mike to the more than 380,000 people following him on Twitter, will spend an hour today answering questions posed on the social network. The questions can be sent and any time and will be answered between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. EDT.

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The first astronaut to Twitter from space will be fielding questions from users of the micro-blogging site this afternoon.

Mike Massimino, who was part of the space shuttle Atlantis crew that repaired and upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope last month, will be answering questions from his Twitter followers on NASA TV and on Ustream.com. Massimino made headlines when he became the first astronaut to Twitter about his flight training and then the first person to ever Twitter from space.

NASA announced on Tuesday that Massimino, who is known as astro_mike to the more than 380,000 people following him on Twitter, will spend an hour today answering questions posed on the social network. The questions can be sent and any time and will be answered between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. EDT.

During the 13 days the Atlantis spent in space, Massimino Twittered about his work on the Hubble and about his experiences orbiting 350 miles above Earth.

"Viewing the Earth is a study of contrasts, beautiful colors of the planet, thin blue line of atmosphere, pure blackness of space," he wrote on May 19. "Getting ready for bed, sleeping in space is cool, tie down your sleeping bag and float inside of it, very relaxing," he also wrote the same day.

"From orbit: My spacewalk was amazing, we had some tough problems, but through them all, the view of our precious planet was beautiful," Massimino Twittered on May 16.

Massimino also noted on Twitter that he wrote the messages in space and then sent them to NASA Public Affairs and someone there posted the messages on Twitter for him. He emphasized that he wrote all of the tweets.

People can follow the interview live at NASA TV and on Ustream.com.

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