Thread by @fabiolouf

Warning: emotional #thread about #DARTMission.
It was 9 years ago when I started to work on @esa's Asteroid Impact Mission. This was the first time I met #Didymos. Since then, Didymos and its small moon #Dimorphos (back then it was Didymoon) became a huge part of my career.
1/6

Many things happened in my life during these 9 years. Didymos always followed me all around the globe.
I worked on engineering aspects of missions to Didymos (AIM and Hera/Milani), as well as on scientific ones, as a member of the DART&Hera Investigation Team.
2/6

I was mission analyst for AIM at @polimi (designing AIM's interplanetary transfer and MASCOT-2 landing on Dimorphos), then PI of projects to study rubble-pile dynamics of Didymos at @NASAJPL and @unibern, and back to trajectory design for Hera/Milani cubesat at @polimi
3/6

Overall, nearly 100% of my career was devoted to the study of Didymos. And it's been absolutely amazing.
Tomorrow we'll finally get there! I have no words to describe my feelings. It will be very emotional just to see Didymos' and Dimorphos' faces for the first time.
4/6

It's been an incredible journey, and the best is yet to come.
I only wish to thank all the special people that made the journey even more special (and made it possible, some from an even longer time ago!). The list would be very long, definitely untweetable!
5/6

I only want to mention @deepbluedot, for the way he welcomed me in the AIM/Hera family, and for making me feel so important, and Patrick Michel, a major source of inspiration during these years.
We're almost there! GO #DART!