RSS rollback for space shuttle Endeavour better than launch

Click on the image for a panaroma of the scene at the "tweetup" of the RSS rollback.

As we were being bused away from the launch pad, we briefly stopped at a spot where we got a full-frontal view of the shuttle. Pretty amazing.

Not many members of the public have had the chance to see Endeavour like this. And nobody ever will again, sadly.

NASA invited back 150 Twitter users, including yours truly, after an electrical issue forced a scrub of space shuttle Endeavour's launch attempt in late April.

On May 15, the day before the launch, about 80 of the "tweeps" who returned were bused to launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, where they got a closeup view of the shuttle as its rotating service structure was rolled back.

NASA roped off an area of grass a few hundred yards from the launch pad, and the "tweetup" participants had more than hour to gawk at the spaceship on the eve of its final liftoff.

I took lots of photos -- probably too many.

The tweeps.

A NASA plane carrying Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wife of mission commander Mark Kelly, circles the launch pad as it arrives from Houston. About the same time, Giffords' staff snapped a photo of the pad and posted it on Twitter.

The "beanie cap."

RSS rollback beginning.

I took so many photos that I don't have the energy to make captions for each one...

...so just look at them.

Fuel tanks.

Media photographers had their remote cameras set up nearby.

NASA photographer Bill Ingalls took photos of the tweeps from the top of his car.

The pad's lightning-protection system.

This astronaut figurine was part of the gift bag NASA gave to the tweeps.

The roped-off area was just outside the fence around the pad.

A tweep trying to lean against the shuttle.

That's me in those sunglasses.

Tweeps had fun with different poses in front of the pad.

The yoga pose.

This tweep was doing a time lapse of the rollback and/or cloud progression behind the shuttle.

Line of tweeps.

The pad's spotlights.

More remote cameras.

You can really appreciate Endeavour's size when compared with launch pad workers.

Stephanie Schierholz, the NASA public affairs worker who served as the tweetup's main organizer.

Some small cactuses were growing on the tweetup stomping grounds.

Our guide.

Getting back on the bus.

These full-on shots were taken through a bus window.

Tweeps on the bus.

One last shot from the moving bus.