"I'm going to put my space suit on. Next stop, Earth orbit"

A NASA astronaut has become the first person to use the services of Twitter in space during a mission. The mission involved fizing the Hubble telescope.

Mike Massimino has been updating his 252,000 followers daily on preparations or the mission since April 3, last month.

In space, he tweetsl "From orbit; Lunch was awesome. I am feeling great, working hard and enjoying the magnificent views. The adventure of a lifetime has begun".

Mr Massimino further writes about himself becoming accustomed to the space environment. NASA has not placed restrictions on what he can or cannot "tweet" about. He emails his messages to Houston, which goes onto upload on his twitter page.

The mission includes five risk-filled spacewalks, having been labelled NASA's "most dangerous shuttle mission" due to the large volume of space junk in close proximity to the mission.

For those who wish to follow Massimino's journey, check out: www.twitter.com/astro-mike