First held as a Tweetup at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2009, NASA Social has run more than 200 behind-the-scenes events for people who share the agency's work online
NASA invited me to Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 21, 2022, as one of the social media creators at its NASA Social for the SpaceX Crew-4 mission. The day's tours ran from the news center to Launch Pad 39B, where the Artemis I Moon rocket stood.
"I'm here at @NASA for the @SpaceX #Crew4 launch to the International Space Station!" I posted that morning. "Will be sharing some of the cool things I learn about NASA and the people behind the operations!"
Crew-4 would carry NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins and the European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti to the station. On April 22, NASA set a new launch target of April 27 at 3:52 a.m. EDT. The new date came after the planned return of Axiom Mission 1, the first all-private astronaut mission to the station. NPR reported that Watkins was set to become the first Black woman to serve at the International Space Station.
Baxter at the briefing desk in the Kennedy news center, under the Crew-4 mission patch. Photo courtesy of Dr. Raven Baxter
The morning started at the Vehicle Assembly Building and the news center, where the briefing room wall already carried the Crew-4 patch. In the afternoon we toured the International Space Station Processing Facility, where station hardware is prepared for flight. Inside, the Space Plant Biology lab works on Veggie and the Advanced Plant Habitat, two systems for growing plants on the station.
The Space Plant Biology lab, home of the Veggie and Advanced Plant Habitat projects. Baxter is not pictured. Photo: Dr. Raven Baxter
In NASA's launch release, Administrator Bill Nelson said the Crew-4 astronauts would "carry out research investigations that will help NASA prepare for longer duration stays on the Moon," and eventually Mars.
At Pad 39B, we stood under the Space Launch System rocket for Artemis I. It had rolled out of the assembly building for the first time on March 17 for its wet dress rehearsal. Four days after my visit, it rolled back to the building. Nearby sat a crawler-transporter, the machine that carries rockets to the pad.
Baxter with a crawler-transporter near the pad. Photo courtesy of Dr. Raven Baxter
Crew-4 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A on April 27 in a new Dragon spacecraft the crew named Freedom. "Crew-4's launch, less than two days after the return of the first all-private mission to station, exemplifies the spirit and success of the Commercial Crew Program," said Kathryn Lueders, NASA's associate administrator for space operations.
NASA Social started as the first NASA Tweetup, held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Jan. 21, 2009. Each event gives social media users behind-the-scenes access to share with their followers. The program passed 200 events by 2023, NASA reported.
I am a molecular biologist and science communicator. I received my Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo that February. I returned to Kennedy in 2026 for the Artemis II rollout.
NASA's Crew-4 launch release is on its website.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the launch of the Planetary Health Check 2026 at Climate Week NYC, where she interviewed climate scientist Johan Rockström and former Unilever chief executive Paul Polman.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from the 81st UN General Assembly in New York, from the SDG Media Zone at UN Headquarters and the Unstoppable Africa business forum.
Dr. Raven Baxter reports from BiotechTV's first U.S. Science Summit in Kendall Square, where about 20 science creators joined biotech leaders on July 21, 2026.
