NASA, which used Twitter to send updates about the Mars Phoenix Lander program, is turning to the micro-blogging service again.

The US space agency announced on Monday that astronaut Mike Massimino would be using Twitter to provide a behind-the-scenes look at his training for an upcoming space shuttle mission.

Massimino will be firing off 140-character-or-less messages at @Astro_Mike.

Massimino is to be a mission specialist and spacewalker during the space shuttle Atlantis mission due to launch on 12 May to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA did not say whether the astronaut would be "tweeting" from space.

NASA's Twitter feed on the Phoenix Lander program earned it praise and more than 38 000 people had signed up to receive "tweets" from Mars by the time the mission ended in November.

AFP

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