NASA astronaut checks in to Foursquare from space

The International Space Station (ISS) crew member US astronaut Douglas Wheelock
The International Space Station (ISS) crew member US astronaut Douglas Wheelock signs the door of his room before leaving a hotel for the final pre-flight preparation at the Baikonur cosmodrome on June 2010. Wheelock sent a message from his Twitter account, @Astro_Wheels, saying he had "unlocked the 'NASA Explorer Badge'" on Foursquare.

A NASA astronaut on Friday used the popular location-sharing service Foursquare to "check in" from space.

Douglas Wheelock, who is orbiting the Earth aboard the , sent a message from his Twitter account, @Astro_Wheels, saying he had "unlocked the 'NASA Explorer Badge'" on Foursquare.

Foursquare, which boasts more than four million members, allows users to broadcast their whereabouts to other users of the service and earn "badges" for the places they check in from or to become the "mayor."

The Explorer Badge can be earned by those who are "220 miles above the Earth traveling at 17,500 mph," which puts Wheelock in a rarified category.

"Check-ins from around the world have been cool, but this blew my mind!" Foursquare co-founder and chief executive Dennis Crowley said.

"We're psyched to partner with NASA to help users explore the space program and the universe," Crowley said.

NASA has been quick to adopt Facebook, Twitter and other tools and offers Foursquare badges to visitors to a number of NASA facilities, including the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and mission control in Houston.

Timothy Creamer, a NASA flight engineer, sent the first "tweet" from space in January and have been tweeting regularly since then.

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi earlier this year used Twitpic to send spectacular pictures of Earth as seen from space, including views of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Fuji and other landmarks.

NASA's Foursquare page is located at foursquare.com/NASA .

(c) 2010 AFP

Citation: NASA astronaut checks in to Foursquare from space (2010, October 22) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2010-10-nasa-astronaut-foursquare-space.html
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