WASHINGTON — NASA and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will invite 30 of their social media followers to the first “NASA Social” on April 19 to welcome space shuttle Discovery to the national collection. Registration opens at noon EDT Thursday, March 15, and closes at noon Friday, March 16. Thirty participants will be selected randomly from online registrations.

For more information on NASA Social and to register, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/social

A NASA Social is an event for people who use NASA’s social media accounts. For this event, fans and followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are eligible to register. Each participant may invite one guest and all registrants must be 13 or older. The social media group will tour the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center; speak with museum curators, NASA scientists and engineers; and have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of viewing and photographing space shuttles Enterprise and Discovery together. Participants also will meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media and members of the Smithsonian and NASA social media teams.

NASA officially will transfer Discovery into the Smithsonian’s collection April 19 in an outdoor ceremony open to the public. The event will begin with Discovery’s arrival from adjacent Dulles International Airport onto the tow road behind the center. That evening, specialists from NASA and the museum’s collections division will begin repositioning Enterprise and Discovery. Enterprise has been on display at the center and is moving to New York’s Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Discovery will be moved inside the center’s James S. McDonnell Space Hangar to be displayed permanently.

For information and updates about Discovery arrival events, visit: http://discovery.si.edu

The National Air and Space Museum operates two buildings in the Washington area: the flagship building on the National Mall and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., near Dulles. Both facilities are open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25).

To find all the ways to connect and collaborate with NASA, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/connect