Poppy Northcutt
@poppy_northcutt
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I am pro-choice and I VOTE! | One time rocket scientist, sometime lawyer, full time feminist | she/her | I am also elsewhere & easy to find. 🙄
Houston, TX
Joined March 2019
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I think Apollo 8 changed the way way we see our planet while Apollo 11 changed the way we see ourselves.
November 25, 1969: Reflecting on the recent success of Apollo 12, Wernher von Braun tells NBC News that the lunar program has been worth the government expense as it has provided inspiration in a time of negativity.
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Here we are watching a tropical storm, probable soon-to-be hurricane, in the Gulf. Meanwhile the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is urging the abolishment of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, which is responsible for hurricane watches, daily weather forecasts
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My father’s response to the ad was “The only thing that could make me prouder would be to see your engagement announced in the local newspaper.”
November 21, 1969: During the flight of Apollo 12, aerospace and defense contractor TRW publishes this ad in national magazines featuring mathematician Poppy Northcutt. It is the first time TRW chose to use an employee in one of their ads.
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My father’s response to my face showing up in Time, Newsweek, US New & World Report, etc. was to tell me that the only thing that would please him more would be to see my engagement announced in the local newspaper.
November 21, 1969: During the flight of Apollo 12, aerospace and defense contractor TRW publishes this ad in national magazines featuring mathematician Poppy Northcutt. It is the first time TRW chose to use an employee in one of their ad campaigns.
@poppy_northcutt
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@megynkelly
Are you aware
@megynkelly
that all over the country millions and millions of American moms who are premenopausal are forcing their male children to have menstrual products in their bathrooms at home?? 😱
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After seeing “Hidden Figures” some think we did these calculations manually. Not so. Not in our head, not by hand, not with a slide rule. We used what were for the time high speed computers. Development on Univac 1108. Then into the IBM 360 at NASA’s Real Time Computer Complex.
June 28, 1968: ABC science correspondent Jules Bergman introduces the country to 24-year-old Poppy Northcutt, a TRW Inc. mathematician calculating lunar flight trajectories at Houston’s Manned Spacecraft Center. 1/3
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A really sad day to see this sign go up this morning at Houston Women’s Clinic and to see patients being turned away. This clinic had been the 4th largest provider of abortions in the USA.
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Yesterday I helped my bestie Kira, a NASA employee in Houston, with this letter she wrote following passage of Texas’ abortion ban. Her ideas resonated with me & I think they are worth a read. Voices are stronger together, so if you can, share this to show your support.
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I was barely awake when Bergman called me. It was just a few minutes after the explosion. He told me what was going on and wanted to know whether they could do a direct abort from their current location or would they have to fly by the moon.
April 13, 1970: Return to Earth specialist Poppy Northcutt arrives back in Houston after witnessing Apollo 13’s launch two days earlier. At home, she receives a telephone call from ABC News correspondent Jules Bergman. It is the first she learns of the emergency on Apollo 13.
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People sometimes ask me who was my mentor back in the days I worked on Apollo missions. The idea of women having a “mentor” didn’t exist at that time. On the other hand I have had a Life Coach — Miss Piggy. “If vous got it, flaunt it.” Attitude is everything.
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My most memorable & exhausting Christmas Day was 51 years ago. Here is a photo of one page of the hard copy I kept of the final return to earth digitals for
#Apollo8
. It shows data for a TEI 10 maneuver (on right) and for a backup TEI 11 (on left) maneuver.
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I don’t care whether Trump concedes. I don’t care whether he attends the inauguration. There is no reason for the news media to continue to discuss this. After four years of Trump, does anyone actually expect him to rise to the occasion? Or be gracious? Or even remotely helpful?
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Apollo could not compute a return to earth maneuver on board. All lunar maneuvers were computed on the ground & then Capcom read them up to the crew. During 8, 2 TEI maneuvers were read up every pass in case of a comm failure. Photo is my readup pad for
#Apollo8
‘s TEI.
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I got letters from girls from around the world saying things like “I didn’t know women could work in mission control.”
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Some folks think Starship test launch was a failure because it ended with an abort shows a basic misunderstanding of purpose of a test flight. A test flight is meant to stress system in order to improve. To paraphrase Bill Gates—you learn more from failure than from success.
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Am celebrating the big 80 by attending final arguments in the Harris County election challenge case.
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How does it feel to be the only woman in the room? Like you are under a microscope because you are: During Apollo 8 sims, I discovered there was a camera focused just on me.
Speaking about the cameras in the
@NASA
control center during Apollo 11, engineer
@poppy_northcutt
, "Let everybody who is not in this damn room know, there is a woman here. I'm here. Get used to it." Watch more of this
@airandspace
program on Sunday at 7pm ET on C-SPAN 3.
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Just found this Apollo 11 memento rattling around in the bottom of a drawer.
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By the time Apollo missions were flying it was normal for splashdown to be right on target, within view of the recovery ship. I still marvel at that because I know that when we started working on that problem the calculation error at splashdown was in the 100s of miles.
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It pays to advertise. Today while wearing my “I can help you register to vote” tshirt, a young woman I hadn’t previously met saw the shirt while I was in the laundry room and said she’d like to get involved in voter registration.
@HarrisVotes
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It will be years before we again see two American women presiding over a joint session of the US Congress.
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Three seats on the texas supreme court will be on the ballot in November. Register. Show up. Vote. Every election. Every race.
The Texas Supreme Court halted depositions that were scheduled to begin Thursday in the whistleblower case against Attorney General Ken Paxton. The decision was made public within hours of former President Donald Trump calling on the court to end the case.
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I bet anyone alive today who had one of these badges 52 years ago still has it.
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I am 76 years old and managed to do my squats, planks, situps, leg lifts, etc. this morning without making a public nuisance of myself. What a bunch of babies!
Look at the
#COVIDIOTS
doing squats & push ups outside of a Clearwater gym in FL.
Why the f can’t they do push-ups and squats at home. Get on Zoom and do a group workout, if you insist on working out beside people.
Here is another cluster to look for.
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Every day is a good day to register folks to vote.
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The launch 🚀 today was a marvel of teamwork and a powerful demonstration of technical prowess. But I find no joy in it with so many in pain from racial injustice and with the images of our cities in chaos. I thought 1968 was bad.
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In 1978 when NASA had its first class of astronauts that included women, rather than work on redesigning the suits to better fit women, they designed a makeup kit for women to take into space.
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If you live in a city with an abortion clinic, today is a good day to drive by and give a word of encouragement to your local clinic escorts who often are dealing with hostile protesters. Maybe even drop off a Starbucks gift card. Escorting is thirsty work. See you out there.
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My father’s response was classic for the times. He said the only thing that could make him prouder would be to see my engagement or marriage announced in the local paper. The TRW PR folks said the ad got the largest positive response of any national ad they had run.
November 21, 1969: During the flight of Apollo 12, aerospace and defense contractor TRW publishes this ad in national magazines featuring mathematician Poppy Northcutt. It is the first time TRW chose to use an employee in one of their ad campaigns.
@poppy_northcutt
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Omg. It was just the occasional spoon or fork before. Nobody warned me that getting Phizer cubed would exponentially magnetize my arm. 😱 😳🤣
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Chilling for 15 minutes after getting latest COVID shot. Came to CVS right after working out cause data show that boosts immune response. Not a science denier. Not flat earther. Know moon landing real. Get vaxed. Stay healthy. Vote.
@KamalaHarris
@harrisdemocrats
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Hadn’t seen this before. The drawing looks like is taken from a black and white photo. That dress was actually fire engine red. My philosophy was that if you can’t blend in with the surroundings anyway, might as well be really visible.
@SallyRideSci
@poppy_northcutt
I just ordered a new book for a grandkid — “How We Got to the Moon” by John Rocco — and I noticed a drawing of Poppy Northcutt! (Page 56)
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We are already seeing Project 2025 in action here in Texas.
Paxton wants to criminalize traveling outside of Texas to get an abortion.
He’s suing the Biden administration to obtain medical records of women who seek treatment out of state.
This is a preview of Trump’s administration.
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I love clothing with pockets.
New official portrait for NASA astronaut Kayla Barron, who will participate in SpaceX crew 3 mission next month
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@Forbes
I don’t care what Ivanka believes or whether she is apologetic or unapologetic. I also don’t believe anything she says. I never expected to see her actually helping other women & don’t expect to see her protesting outside the clinic where I escort in the heat, rain, or cold. 🤷🏼♀️
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I never viewed Apollo 13 as a failure. I view it as the most successful mission of them all. Success is easy when things go as planned. To me any space mission that gets the crew safely home is a success. That happened with Apollo 13 against great odds. A successful space rescue!
On
#Fridaythe13th
we honor Apollo 13, our most successful failure.
Although the crew didn't reach the moon due to a mechanical failure, mission control worked day & night to bring them home. The safe return of Apollo 13 was one of
@NASA
's finest hours.
#Apollo50th
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Happy
#MoonDay
. Sometimes I’m asked what it was like to be in Mission Control when
#Apollo11
landed. I was at home at the time. My job was return-to-earth and it was a pretty sure thing that we weren’t going to do that while there were 2 guys on the surface so that was a well
“Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.”
55 years ago at 4:17 PM EDT, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon!
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My favorite mission. To me, this was the giant leap.
Apollo 8 launched on the first crewed mission to the Moon 55 years ago today. Astronauts Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and Jim Lovell were the first astronauts to launch using the powerful Saturn V rocket.
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During summer 1968, there was talk NASA was thinking of doing a lunar orbital mission,
#Apollo8
, later that year. What a ridiculous rumor, I thought. They aren’t going to the moon if they can’t get back. I worked on the development of the Abort Program. It wasn’t done yet.
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Some folks have asked about my work on
#Apollo11
. Hard to sum up in 280 characters but attached memo shows scope of Task A60.1, the Return-to-Earth Program. I worked first on the earth-centered RTE but mostly on development of the abort & RTE capability from lunar orbit & flybys
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Upping my power pose from the straight Wonder Woman to the half Wonder plus Water Glass pose. What a power surge! And that’s no mere 6 or 8 ounce water glass I’m brandishing. I am holding a full 16 ounce water glass!
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Other than the name Artemis, where are the women?
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I asked him how far out the spacecraft was from the earth. Once I knew the distance from earth, I knew they would have to do a fly by. Doing a direct return from their current position would require too much fuel & the return trajectory would still have a very long trip time.
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Just home from early voting polling place. Long, long day after long long yesterday. 6 am to past 10 pm two days in a row after doing a bunch of 14 hour work days is punishing. But had great voters. At 7 pm we had about 150 folks in line. We voted more than 1200 folks today!!
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Off to drop off my mail ballot. Can hardly wait for this long national nightmare to be over.
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I am all in for the Space Cadets for Harris Zoom call tomorrow.
@Space4Harris
@harrisdemocrats
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So sad to learn of the death of Frank Borman, who led the first flight to the moon. Blue skies, Commander.
Frank Borman, Apollo 8 astronaut who led first flight to the moon, dies at 95:
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Even miles away, you don’t just hear and see liftoff of a Saturn V; you feel the sound vibrating thru your body. I vividly recall seeing launch of Apollo 13.
On this day in 1967, Apollo 4 launched in first test flight of the Saturn V rocket. More on the Saturn V:
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Just got an email that I made Forbes 50 over 50 List. Always good to be in good company.
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I was surprised and disappointed today while out that flags were not at half staff in respect to the death of
@AstroMCollins
and note that
@POTUS
Obama did order such a tribute upon the death of Neil Armstrong.
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Got the new COVID shot yesterday. All my previous shots were Pfizer but this one is Moderna. More side effects than previously. Feeling really tired and sleepy. But no change to my wifi. My already magnetic personality is also unchanged. 😔
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I was there for the launch and then there in MSC for the rescue. Both unforgettable experiences.
This week is the 54th anniversary of the
#Apollo13
launch (April 11, 1970).
Many coined their rescue operation as
@NASA
's finest hour. Without the hard work and ingenuity of the Mission Control teams, the "successful failure" would not have been achieved.
#MovieApollo13
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I thought it was just short term memory that was affected by age. I had entirely forgotten about this!
September 22, 1971: The syndicated TV daytime talk program "The Phil Donahue Show" welcomes Frances Poppy Northcutt, a mathematician and engineer at Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center, to talk about careers for women in space science and technology.
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Some studies have shown that debunking doesn’t just spread the lie, it can actually cause those who believe the lie to deepen belief in the lie and increase resistance to the truth. Confirmation bias is a big problem for humans.
Disinformation works because it creates an impression. Accuracy doesn’t matter. Then reporting on the disinformation spreads the impression. And even debunking can spread the impression. We in the media have to find a way not to be accomplices. So far, the media has not.
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Just got Pfizerized for 3rd time. Painless. Nothing to it. Get vaxed.
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Ken Paxton does not want folks who live in our metro counties to vote.
Only in Texas, where it is a crime to encourage people to vote. smdh.
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Fond memories for me. As someone who worked in the Apollo program, I had my heart in my throat at liftoff and every other stage all the way til the crew was returned “safely to the earth.”
#Apollo
#Apollo11
Liftoff! July 16, 1969, 13:32 UTC – 55 years ago today –
#Apollo11
launched from Earth, bound for the Moon. Years of research, testing, development, and all prior programs and missions came together to generate this moment. Neil, Mike and I may have been atop the rocket – but the
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Here’s my Snoopy, a flight safety award presented by the Neil Armstrong, on my Apollo 11 mission badge. I received the Snoopy for work on Apollo 8.
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Not all superheroes wear capes; some wear rainbow striped vests and escort at Texas abortion clinics.
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@GregAbbott_TX
If you are so worried about that
@GregAbbott_TX
then you should keep the mask mandate. A public health crisis is definitely not the time to have incompetence in control. You were incompetent during the freeze and continue to be incompetent during pandemic. Resign Now.
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Big difference today in news coverage because big difference in who is doing the coverage. Women journalists rock! How the women of NASA made their mark on the space program - Los Angeles Times
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26 years ago I got my best b’day present ever when Ruth Bader Ginsberg was sworn in. Fortunately we are both still doing what we care about. I am starting my day, like many days, in the Houston heat escorting at a women’s clinic.
#rbg
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So today I picked up a little cart from IKEA for bathroom. Never enough storage room. I’d seen a great looking little cart on Amazon but it cost about $150 which seemed a lot just for a place to put shampoo, etc. So looked at IKEA online. Voila. $15 assembly required. Piece of 🎂
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@lauren_kelley
I have sat in an abortion clinic and heard women who are there for an abortion talking about how they are opposed to abortion but “my situation is different.”
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Paxton is escalating voter suppression efforts
DEVELOPING STORY: LULAC says its members were target of latest Ken Paxton voter fraud search, calls for federal probe
#txlege
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Long line to get in and packed house inside White Oak Music Hall for
@ColinAllredTX
for Senate event today. Lots of enthusiasm here in Harris County.
@harrisdemocrats
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Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes on achieving my 79th passage about the Sun.
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At airport ready to board for DC. Gonna try to make some good trouble while at NOW natl conference. We ll be demonstrating in support of ERA tomorrow
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Just got my first Pfizer jab at Memorial Hermann in Pearland. Very orderly process, quick and painless.
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“and wife”? You can’t bother to say her name her even when she wins the Nobel Prize?
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Birthday present from an old friend. 🥰🥰🥰 Wonder how she knew just what I needed. 🤣🤣🤣
@harrisdemocrats
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@LauraChapin
Thanks for the work you do. I was a referral lawyer in Houston with Jane’s Due Process taking teen girls to court for judicial bypasses until everything was shut down by Dobbs & the Texas trigger law. Every day I think about the girls who are trapped here into forced parenthood..
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Today’s the day to wear my lunar contact button, a replica of the console button that lights up on landing.
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Yes. They actually did this! Missouri House Republicans voted to defund libraries after a federal court overturns a ban on 300 library books.
#BanGunsNotBooks
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@ChasingMoonBk
I hope you got at least as many new followers from this post as I did. Up 200+ and counting. 😍😍😍
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Great article about my favorite beagle. I received a Silver Snoopy award for my work on Apollo 8. Presented by Armstrong. Definitely cherished.
Only one astronaut has landed on the Moon, launched on the Space Shuttle, traveled to the International Space Station, and flown on Artemis I. Read “Snoopy in Space” from our latest
#ASQ
:
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Feeling like a superhero. Got 13000+ steps in today. Came down with bad cold-not COVID per tests- over the 4th and so my fitness activities went to zero. Resumed light workouts this week. Today is first day back to some serious walking. Old age ain’t for sissies.
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Clinic escorts are out helping patients access safe and legal abortion in all weather
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I think republican men have forgotten that more than half the college degrees being granted these days are to women and those educated women are watching, thinking, and voting.
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Strangest complaint from a voter yesterday: My ballot didn’t have the race for Governor of Georgia or Governor of Nevada on it. 😳
Maybe we should start teaching civics again in our schools.
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My birthday is on August 10 and a great way to wish me a happy birthday would be to gift the
@LegoNASAWomen
set to a girl you know and tag me in the photo you post. I would love to see a lot of photos of future women in science, technology, engineering, and math in my timeline.
It is almost the birthday of
@poppy_northcutt
a Great Woman of Mathematics with an historic role in the space program, who is right here on Twitter! 😯
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Just got the speaker lineup for tonight’s Space Cadets for Harris call.
@Space4Harris
What a group— astronauts , actors, scientists & engineers, authors, and some NASA admins. If you haven’t signed up yet, don’t miss out. Go to .
I am all in for the Space Cadets for Harris Zoom call tomorrow.
@Space4Harris
@harrisdemocrats
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It’s official. I’ve been confirmed for another 2-yr term as a Harris County election judge. Thank you
@HCPrecinct4
Commish Leslie Briones,
@harrisdemocrats
,
@HarrisVotes
. Let’s go.
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Found this lovely French anatomy of Saturn-Apollo in folded up in the bottom of a box this morning. Don’t recall when or where I got it but my best guess is that the French journalist Jacques Tiziou gave it to me.
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Everyday voter registration tip: when you drive thru to get your cup o joe, ask that young barista if she needs to register to vote. Am on my way to park and go inside to register yet another Starbucks barista.
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If you are voting today, be especially nice to the election workers. You think you are stressed, they are really stressed. They will work from 14 to 16 hours today and have to deal with some real jerks. Don’t be one of the jerks.
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Still at polling place — packed up and waiting for Deputy Constable to pick up ballot bag, etc. Long day. Started at 5:30 a.m Ready to go home, eat, and sleep.
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The challenge for a lunar mission isn’t just to produce an accurate calculation which alone is a big deal since a tiny error can propagate into a big miss when coming back from someplace as far away as the moon. The bigger challenge is to optimize it & do so really quickly.
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Women, are you getting the message? They want you barefoot and pregnant. They want to eat away at the prohibitions against gender discrimination in education and the workplace. They don’t want you to have the right to vote. Today’s GOP is not your grandma’s GOP. VOTE
Christian nationalist Joel Webbon says he despises democracy because it allows women to vote, something he calls unchristian.
What do you say to him?
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Digging thru one of my “space” boxes in storage, turned up this nifty Apollo 11 slide rule that TRW Systems was handing out. Also found an Apollo 13 slide rule. Needless to say, the latter rapidly became inaccurate.
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In an abort situation, you must optimize for the situation. On 13 both transit time & fuel consumption had to be optimized. If there was an overburn during lunar orbit insertion speed in calculating an abort maneuver is critical. Only with high speed computers was this possible.
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