First Twitter update sent from space

The International Space Station was connected to the Internet by the flight engineer at the International Space Station T. J. Cramer, an American astronaut, sent the first Twitter message directly from the International Space Station, opening it with two words: Hello Twitterverse ● As of Friday, 5,000 followers had registered for his updates

After last week the chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, joined the millions of Twitter users, astronauts in space are now joining the popular social network. Flight engineer T. J. Cramer, an American astronaut, sent a message from the International Space Station at the end of the week. It was the first Twitter message sent from space, and it opened with two catchy words: Hello Twitterverse.

Kramer also stated in the message that it was sent from space, and that this was the first Twitter update sent from outside the earth. As of Friday, 5,000 followers of Kramer's updates were registered.

NASA astronauts have sent Twitter updates from space in the past, but these were first sent to the agency's control center, and distributed from there. Kramer's update was the first to be sent directly from space, with a direct connection to the Internet.

The connection is provided to the astronauts by a system known as Crew Support LAN. The system is based on the existing communication lines, and gives the astronauts full access to the Internet - including e-mail, Internet phone calls, and video conferences.

However, NASA stated that frequent updates should not be expected - because even the astronauts staying in space are subject to the guidelines of the American government, which prohibit government employees from playing on social networks with state equipment.