Astronauts Get Internet Access In Space

In a high tech first - really, really high - astronauts in space finally have Internet access.

Space station resident Timothy Creamer has been working with flight controllers to establish Internet access from his orbital post ever since he moved in last month. On Friday, his effort paid off. He posted the first live tweet truly from space. "Hello Twitterverse!" he wrote. Before, astronauts had to send Twitter updates by e-mail to Mission Control in Houston. Then controllers posted the tweets.

The International Space Station crew can now use an on-board laptop to see a desktop computer at Mission Control, and thereby browse the web. This remote Internet access is possible whenever there is a solid high-speed communication link.