NASA's Hitch Hiker Fans 'Tweet' Their Praise

Penguin Books and NASA have very different ideas about celebrating the 30th anniversary of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

NASA did it by having their LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) vehicle tweeting lines from Hitchhiker’s, just before it slammed into the moon’s surface earlier this week.

Quoting the lines from Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide as a whale, brought accidentally and improbably into existence by last Earthman Arthur Dent, falls towards the surface of the planet Magrathea, it tweeted:

# “And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round,

about 4 hours ago from web

# it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'!”

about 4 hours ago from web

# “That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me?”

about 4 hours ago from web


Then it hit the moon, to mixed responses, with something of a 'plop', rather than the 'blam' some people thought it would (with the more extreme declaring NASA was 'bombing' the moon, as if one more crate would actually make any difference given the number already created every day by meteors that still hit it.)

Penguin, on the other hand is marking this occasion in what's been argued by some as a controversial way by publishing a sixth volume in the ever-more increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy on Monday (12th October). This isn't, however, a lost Douglas Adams manuscript but an entirely new novel by internationally best selling author of the Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer.

Adams final book in the Hitchhiker’s series ended (as it began) with the complete destruction of Earth. Everyone is dead, which doesn’t leave much of an opening for Eoin to start the sixth book in the series. So how does Eoin bring the eternal pessimist Arthur Dent, his alien best friend Ford Prefect and the two headed Galactic President Zaphod Beelbebrox back from the dead?

For a sneak preview and a chance to join in the anniversary celebrations yourself, London’s Southbank Centre and Penguin Books have joined forces to create Hitchcon’09: a day of celebration, spectacle and delight voyaging deep into the Hitchhiker’s Universe on Sunday 11th October


The 30th anniversary of Hitchhiker’s and the publication of Eoin’s new book will be celebrated across the world in a whole manner of ways and in different mediums - for information, visit the official web site at www.6of3.com. But NASA's tweets have definitely sent the anniversary celebrations from global to intergalactic.

Prove You're the Greatest Hitchhiker Fan Ever - in 42 Seconds...

And Another Thing by bestselling author of the Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer, is the sixth novel in the ever-more increasingly inaccurately named 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' trilogy.

To celebrate the launch, publishers Penguin are searching for the biggest Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fan in this or any nearby parallel universe... and we’re not just talking about someone who can stick their thumb out and get a ride to Basingstoke. No, they’re talking about someone who can cadge a lift off a passing flying saucer...

So if you've ever faced a death ray in your dressing gown, done six impossible things before breakfast or proved the non-existence of God with a fish in your ear, then here’s your chance to show that you are the hoopiest frood on this side of the galaxy.

All you have to do is to prove that you are the greatest Hitchhiker fan on video in no more than 42 seconds, post it on YouTube and tag the video with the words ‘sixofthree’ and ‘AAT comp’ and then drop Penguin an email at partsix@uk.penguingroup.com. The video that is deemed by Penguin to demonstrate in the funniest or cleverest way how much of a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fan the creator is will be chosen as the winner.

The winner will get two tickets to Hitchcon 09 on Sunday 11th October 2009 at London's Royal Festival Hall (for further details about that, see below), two nights’ bed and breakfast at the Marriott County Hall hotel for the weekend of the event, an evening meal at Skylon restaurant a personalised dressing gown and towel, as well as being crowned as the official Number One Hitchhiker fan at Hitchcon.

HitchCon 09 offers fans to join publishers Penguin for a PanGalactic Gargleblaster, come attired in dressing gown to take part in a record-breaking Arthur Dent photocall, be the first in the world to hear excerpts from and purchase Eoin Colfer’s And Another Thing..., see free screenings of the Hitchhikers TV Series in the Clore Ballroom, head to the Royal Festival Hall to listen to friends and experts discuss the life and work of Douglas Adams or thrill to watch Simon Jones as Arthur Dent alongside the original Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin the Paranoid Android and Trillian re-create classic moments from the saga live on stage – radio-style (directed and produced by Dirk Maggs).

Whatever your choice on the day, for any self-respecting Hitchhiker’s/Adams fan, one thing is assured, Southbank Centre is the only place to be on Sunday 11th October.

• The closing date for the competition is 30th September, 2009. More info at www.6of3.com/competition

• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Part 6 of 3 And Another Thing... by internationally bestselling author Eoin Colfer will be published by Michael Joseph in hardback on 12th October.

• Get yourself a ticket for the biggest party the unfashionable end of the galaxy has ever seen via www.southbankcentre.co.uk or call 0871 663 2500