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NASA Fuels Space Shuttle Atlantis for Liftoff By Marcia Dunn November 16, 2009 9:40AM NASA put up a white circus-like tent at the press site of Kennedy Space Center, expressly for the Twitter crowd. The long rows of tables covered with laptops were briefly vacated as the crowd walked over to the main road to the launch pad to watch the crew drive by. The crowd cheered and waved to the astronauts and posted Twitter updates.   Related Topics NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis Space Station JPL Twitter Latest News Endeavour Inspected for Damage Autism Risk for Kids of Older Mothers Go Online and You Can Save the Planet In Haiti, Relief Gaps Are Spreading U.S. To Form Climate-Change Agency NASA fueled space shuttle Atlantis on Monday for an afternoon liftoff to the space station, despite increasingly cloudy skies. Forecasters put the odds of acceptable weather at 70 percent, not nearly as good as previous days. Low clouds were the main concern for the 2:28 p.m. (1928 GMT) liftoff. The six astronauts grinned and waved as they headed to the launch pad late Monday morning. Commander Charles Hobaugh was the first one into the shuttle. Atlantis is loaded with big spare parts for the International Space Station. NASA wants to stockpile as much equipment there as possible before the shuttle fleet is retired next year. The 11-day flight will keep the astronauts in orbit through Thanksgiving. They will unload nearly 30,000 pounds (13,600 kilograms) of pumps, tanks and other spare parts, as well as science experiments. Three spacewalks will be conducted to carry out the work. It is NASA's last shuttle flight of the year and among only six remaining. Gathering for the launch were about 100 Twittering space fans who won invitations from NASA. They were among the first to sign up online last month for this first-ever launch "tweetup." NASA put up a white circus-like tent at the press site of Kennedy Space Center, expressly for the Twitter crowd. The long rows of tables covered with laptops were briefly vacated as the crowd walked over to the main road to the launch pad to watch the crew drive by in the so-called astrovan. The crowd cheered and waved to the astronauts, and immediately posted Twitter updates. "100 nerds against the road waving at the astrovan," one wrote. "I was begging the astronauts to take me with them as they stopped and waved at us," another tweeted. NASA estimates the 100 tweeters have a following of more than 150,000. The space agency sees it as a beneficial outreach program.   © 2010 Associated Press under contract with YellowBrix. All rights reserved.   Tell Us What You Think Your Comment: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Advertisement  Space 1.   Endeavour Inspected for Damage 2.   Endeavour Blasts Off on Night Flight 3.   Pluto Shows Hubble Its True Colors 4.   A Bay Window for the Space Station 5.   Space Rock Spurs Earthly Dispute U.S. Space Program: Final Frontier? A Jetsons-like future seems unlikely. Average Rating: Good Night Moon, Hello Rockets Dramatic rocketry changes mandated. Average Rating: Sorry NASA, Scratch That Moon Plan Obama sends agency in new direction. Average Rating:

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