{"id":1129,"date":"2013-10-14T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nicholaswaters.com\/beautifulcuteness\/?p=1129"},"modified":"2013-10-14T12:00:06","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T17:00:06","slug":"the-story-of-astronaut-kitty-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beautifulcuteness.com\/beautifulcuteness\/the-story-of-astronaut-kitty-cat\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of…Astronaut Kitty Cat"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those that don’t know, I live on what is known as Florida’s Space Coast. The reason Brevard County is called the Space Coast is because Kennedy Space Center is located here.<\/p>\n

Now, my brain tends to lean more towards the creative side rather than the scientific. However, I feel very lucky to have the Kennedy Space Center near by. Not only is it a fun place to visit and truly has a little something for everyone, I’ve been able to see shuttles and rockets go off while sitting on my own front lawn!<\/p>\n

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Final flight of Discovery February 2011
Photo Credits: \u00a9Valerie Waters<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition, I was lucky enough to be selected for the GRAIL tweetup at KSC. (If you ever have a chance to attend a NASA tweetup, do it!) At the tweetup I got a behind the scenes tour, to see a shuttle up close, to see old friends and meet new people and got to hear talks by people like Nichelle Nichols and Neil deGrasse Tyson! Plus, I also got to see the Grail launch.<\/p>\n

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Sign welcoming fellow tweetupers to the Grail Tweet Up
Photo credit: \u00a9Valerie Waters<\/p><\/div>\n

Also, for those of you that don’t know, I have two cats. One is a black and white one named Oreo and the other is a gray tabby named Olivia. For one reason or another, they tend to inspire a lot of my art work.<\/p>\n

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\nAstronaut Kitty Cat Jelly Belly Tins<\/a> by ValeriesGallery<\/a><\/div>\n
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Around the time that Astronaut Kitty was born, there was a lot of talk about NASA’s budget, the shuttle program ending and various missions and such. Also, it’s impossible to live in Brevard County and not know someone who works at the space center. Even businesses that aren’t directly related to space are affected by what happens at Kennedy Space Center. So its safe, especially around that time, to say that a lot of people had space on the brains.<\/p>\n

So in short, NASA and space on people’s minds + my cats as inspiration = Astronaut Kitty being created!<\/p>\n

Did You Know:<\/strong><\/p>\n