NASA Launches Astronaut Internet in Space

It's one small click for astronauts, but one giant leap for the Internet. Astronauts on the International Space Station finally have a live Internet connection and made their first direct Twitter post Friday to prove it.

"Hello Twitterverse!" NASA astronaut Timothy "T.J." Creamer posted on his Twitter page as @Astro_TJ. "We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s."

Astronauts have used Twitter during space missions before. But those messages were relayed through Mission Control and posted by a third party. Live Internet connections were not available due to technical and security concerns, NASA officials said.

Now, space station astronauts — there are five of them in orbit today — can post their Twitter updates themselves, and they don't have to stop there. They can surf the Internet, just like folks on Earth, and ease the isolation of long months flying 220 miles (354 km) above the planet.

"It's mostly for personal use," NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told SPACE.com.

Creamer, who launched to the space station in December, has been working with engineers on Earth during his free time to load new software and tackle other technical glitches to make the space station's Internet access a reality.

Humphries said the space Internet uses the station's high-speed Ku-band antenna, so it is active whenever the station has that connection. To surf the Web, astronauts can use a station laptop to control a desktop computer on Earth. It is that ground computer that has the physical connection to the Internet.

There are security restrictions in place to protect the Internet portal, which NASA is calling the Crew Support LAN (Local Access Network).

The International Space Station is home to two Americans — Creamer and fellow NASA astronaut Jeff Williams — as well as Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotovand Maxim Suraev, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

In addition to the Internet portal, station crews can use an Internet Protocol phone to call their families and friends on Earth, as well as set up video conferences every now and then. Lately, station astronauts have used Twitter to keep the public updated about their spaceflights and mission training.

Creamer, Williams (@Astro_Jeff) and Noguchi (@Astro_Soichi) are all currently tweeting from the space station.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.