Spacewomen Tell Colleague to Halt Sexist Comments
Two female astronauts let a male colleague at Mission Control know he should watch his language--and drop the sexist stereotypes.
Discovery astronaut Rhea Seddon, a physician, helped craft a fly swatter-like device that was to be used to hook a switch on the side of the Syncom satellite. Included in the work was a number of stitches with string and a sail maker’s needle.
Astronaut Dave Hilmers, acting as the Mission Control communicator with Discovery on Tuesday, complimented Seddon on her “seamstress” work.
Later, he told Seddon she would now be hearing “the dulcet” voice of astronaut Sally Ride on the microphone.
Seddon replied, “That’s a sexist remark.”
Ride, America’s first woman in space, shot Hilmers a piercing look, and then said she wanted to correct the earlier comment about “seamstress work.”
“That was the work of a surgeon,” Ride said.
She said it with a smile.
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