You never know whose watching. That’s what one woman learned after she lost her internship with NASA for arguing with one of the space council members.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Former NASA intern Naomi H took to Twitter after getting accepted into NASA’s internship program in excitement writing, “EVERYONE SHUT THE F**K UP. I GOT ACCEPTED FOR A NASA INTERNSHIP.” While her tweet got several retweets and shares, others felt her words were a little too vulgar.
In response to her tweet, another Twitter user tweeted, “Language.” The woman snapped back at the man named Homer Hickam saying, “Suck my d*** and balls, I’m working at NASA.” Unbeknownst to the woman, she just so happened to be talking to a member of NASA’s special counsel. According to NBC 4, Hickam is one of more than two dozen people named to the newly-created National Space Council Users Advisory Group. It didn’t take much time for her internship to be snatched right from under her nose. However, Hickam wrote about the incident in a blog saying he had nothing to do with her firing.
“I’m a Vietnam vet and not at all offended by the F-word. However, when I saw NASA and the word used together, it occurred to me that this young person might get in trouble if NASA saw it so I tweeted to her one word: “Language” and intended to leave it at that. Soon, her friends took umbrage and said a lot of unkind things but long after I was gone as I immediately deleted my comments and blocked all concerned. Later, I learned she had lost her offer for an internship with NASA.”
“This I had nothing to do with nor could I since I do not hire and fire at the agency or have any say on employment whatsoever. As it turned out, it was due to the NASA hashtag her friends used that called the agency’s attention to it long after my comments were gone.” Naomi saw the error in her ways and eventually reached out to Hickam and apologized.
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Having only kind words to say about Naomi he let her know he would try to find a position that better suited for her. Hickam continued, “She reached out to me with an unnecessary apology which I heartily accepted and returned with my own. After talking to her, I am certain she deserves a position in the aerospace industry and I’m doing all I can to secure her one that will be better than she lost. I have also talked to the folks that had to do with her internship and made absolutely certain that there will be no black mark on her record.”
