NASA Astronaut Doug Wheelock Wins Social Media Shorty Award

Wheelock photo “Moon from Space” chosen for Real-Time Photo of the Year

WASHINGTON -- NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock was honored with a Shorty Award for an image of the moon he took and posted to his Twitter account, @Astro_Wheels, while living aboard the International Space Station last year. The awards ceremony was held at the TimesCenter in New York City on Monday, March 28.

The Shorty Awards honor the people and organizations producing short-form, real-time social media content. Winners are determined by a combination of popular vote and members of the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences.

Wheelock’s “Moon from Space” image was selected as the best Real-Time Photo of the Year.

“The dream of space exploration belongs to everyone, and I am grateful I can play even a small role in connecting people to the universe,” said Wheelock. “At NASA we are in the business of making seemingly impossible dreams come true every day. We want to captivate, inspire, and energize the next generation of scientists, engineers, and space explorers.”

NASA’s Twitter account @NASA and another tweeting astronaut, Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, were finalists in the Shorty’s Science category. Nespoli, who is currently aboard the space station, sent a video greeting to guests at the ceremony.

In addition, Wheelock’s Oct. 22, 2010, “check-in” to the International Space Station on Foursquare was a finalist in two other Shorty categories: Wheelock as Foursquare Mayor of the Year and the International Space Station as Foursquare Location of the Year.

“NASA is very honored that the voting public recognized our efforts to engage with and connect people to their space program using social media,” said Stephanie Schierholz, social media manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington.