Congratulation to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the successful launch of Mars Curiosity! Huge. You deserve to celebrate. And be celebrated. You’ve made Earth proud.
I also celebrate NASA/JPL for how visible women were as part of this extraordinary event. Several times on the livestream last night people made reference to kids looking at the launch of the Mars Curiosity and seeing possibilities for themselves in STEM - and thanks to a number of prominent women on the team, little girls will see a path to space for themselves too.
There were six members of the JPL team in the control room for the launch. In no particular order, they were:
- Pauline Hwang, Deputy Integrated Planning & Execution Team Chief
- Erisa Hines, Attitude Control System Engineer
- Ann Devereaux, EDL Flight System Engineer
- Kelly Clarke, Deputy Realtime Operations Team Chief/GDS Engineer
- Leslie Livesay, Director for the Engineering and Science Directorate
- Nagin Cox, Assistant Flight System System Engineering Manager
…and present in rehearsal (unsure what role she had at launch; confirming)
- Tracey Nielson, Fault Protection System Engineer
NASA commentator/reporter Gay Hill tied it all together as the night wore on.Also, those delightful @MarsCuriosity tweets are voiced by a trio of ladies, led by NASA’s social media manager Veronica McGregor (who opened the press conference after the launch), with Courtney O’Connor and Stephanie Smith. Still giggling over “GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!”Anyhoo. Not that we’re indifferent to Bobak’s charms - please, we’re totally down - but we wanted to give shout-outs to the incredible ratio-changing people who were part of the MarsCuriosity’s terrific team. We’re sure there are more, but these were who we saw. See, visibility is important. Even from space.
Another great post from my homegirl Sklar, putting this in perspective… a girl’s got some real role models now!
CHANGE THE MR. RATIO
(Source: thedailymeme)
In 1967, after the first successful year of my TV series, That Girl, a Hollywood agent had the idea of my playing the part of Gloria, who had just made headlines by going undercover as a bunny at the Playboy Club, exposing the sexism and poor working conditions endured by the women who worked there. I’d never met Gloria, but I’d read her articles and knew she was smart and passionate about women’s rights, and I was eager to meet her.
A meeting was set up by the agent, and no more than thirty seconds into it, he beamed at us appreciatively from across his desk, and delivered that jaw-dropping hello. “Boy, I don’t know which one of you I’d like to fuck first.”
Boy, did he pick the wrong two women to say that to. I don’t think we heard anything else he said. The meeting and the idea came to an immediate end. It was just the beginning for Gloria and me.
Gloria was my touchstone in those early days of the women’s movement. She brought me into a circle of amazing women who were doing groundbreaking things. She opened my eyes to the power of creating coalitions that actually effected change rather than just talking about it.
”| — | Marlo Thomas, That Girl indeed (via mollylambert) Marlo & Gloria: OG ratio changers. |
Today is apparently the day I change my attitude, my luck… and the ratio.