Distant Suns Astronomy App Creator, Mike Smithwick, To Live Tweet Historic Dragon/SpaceX Launch
SAN JOSE, CA – May 18, 2012 – First Light Design’s (Distant Suns), Founder and President, Mike Smithwick, will be live tweeting and blogging about his experiences at the upcoming launch of the unmanned Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX, marking the first time in history that a commercial company will attempt to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled for Saturday, May 19 at 4:55 am Eastern Time. Mike will be tweeting, posting to Facebook and blogging in the day prior to the launch and then in real time as it happens.
“I have had the good fortune of being invited to witness the launch of the Falcon 9/Dragon mission at Cape Canaveral,” said Mike. “This will be my seventh launch, having seen Apollo 11, 15, and 17 take off, two shuttle missions and the Cosmic Background Explorer. Few things are more spectacular than an Apollo-Saturn V (at night no less), but any orbital launch is exciting nonetheless. This one will have an excitement all it’s own – a commercial vehicle delivering a cargo to the International Space Station, something only a few governments have ever accomplished.”
After the launch, Mike will head back to California to live tweet the solar eclipse on Sunday, May 20.
About Distant Suns Astronomy App
Distant Suns has been bringing the cosmos to stargazers for almost 30 years.
Features include:
- View the stars from the Earth or out in the solar system
- Augmented Reality Viewing overlays the sky with the local landscape
- What’s Up? Offers an overview of the evening’s sky
- GPS and Compass aware
- NASA’s Night Sky Network of local astronomical events (US only)
- Over 300,000 planets, stars, galaxies, nebula and star clusters
- Interactive tour of the solar system
Lean more in the App Store.
About SpaceX
The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to revolutionize space transportation in order to eventually make it possible for people to live on other planets. Today, SpaceX is advancing the boundaries of space technology through its Falcon launch vehicles and Dragon spacecraft. Learn more at SpaceX.
About First Light Design
First Light Design, LLC, is a privately owned company. It first released Distant Suns for the Commodore Amiga in 1987, followed by versions for Macintosh and Windows. Recently, Distant Suns has partnered with NASA’s Night Sky Network and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific to include local, United States listings of astronomical events and activities in the App. First Light Design is a proud member of Moms With Apps, a collaborative group of family-friendly developers with family-friendly apps. Details about the company and its products can be found at Distant Suns.
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Distant Suns is a trademark of First Light Design, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
