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you

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hi I'm dr. Renee Horton the SLS lead

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metallics and weld engineer at NASA

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Michoud assembly facility

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I am SLS boots on the ground not all of

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us get a chance to do what we love to do

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every day so I feel extremely lucky to

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work at NASA because it is a dream job I

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spent many nights gazing at the Stars

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as a child wondering if there was

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anything beyond our universe we often

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travel to Biloxi to visit my uncle in

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the airforce and we would stop at the

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rest area outside of Stennis Space

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Center and I would get a chance to play

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in the NASA area and pretend I was going

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into space I decided one day I wanted to

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be an astronaut to see the beyond I

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joined the Air Force ROTC and during my

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physical I learned that I had a hearing

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loss and later was diagnosed with a

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hearing impairment and I couldn't be an

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astronaut but I would still be able to

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send astronauts into space I hold an

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electrical engineering degree from LSU I

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am the first in my family to receive a

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PhD and the first african-american to

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receive my PhD in material science and

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physics from the University of Alabama

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go Tigers my degree was funded all on

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NASA scholarships I started working for

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NASA after I graduated and I've started

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in the materials test lab then systems

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engineering and now I am the SLS lead

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metallic and well specialist at NASA

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Michoud assembly facility my current

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priority is the vertical assembly center

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which is the largest well tool in the

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world each day I walk the factory floor

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with a lot of pride in working for such

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a talented workforce that it's made up

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of people from all walks of life

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cultures and races we're all

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contributing to the next big thing

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happening at NASA Michoud we're all a

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you

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my name is Cynthia sprawl I'm part of a

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small team that integrates and operates

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two Michoud assembly facility for their

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production of the space launch system

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daily activities include oversight of

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our facilities contractor and management

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contribution to the space program is

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providing a viable so in addition to

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daily activities you will find me

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focused on special assignments that have

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to do with reducing the cost to operate

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the site for the Space Launch System

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after exhausting conventional methods

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like energy reduction maintenance

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planning and scheduling and renting

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excess space to commercial tenants we

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look for more since we have excess green

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space or swampland all around us we're

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currently pursuing partnerships with

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commercial developers where they would

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build their own building on our land and

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NASA would realize rental revenue that

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offsets the cost to operate for SLS we

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have the land they bring the building

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everybody wins

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we also look for unique contractual

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partners currently we're preparing for a

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new NASA contract for our operations and

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maintenance the new contract will serve

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both the Michoud assembly facility and

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the Stennis Space Center nearby thereby

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realizing synergies and functions of the

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contract that are not site-specific

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bottom line we believe that this to

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reduce the cost to operate for SLS I

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believe diversity in the workplace is

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key to generating and implementing such

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innovations that allow us to achieve

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greater results than we could otherwise

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I look for opportunities to develop

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others and truly enjoy watching them

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realize greater goals than they thought

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possible my advice to others is look for

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opportunities in your organization or

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you can solve a problem for management

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and ask be persistent in asking for that

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assignment diversity in the workplace to

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me means listening and being heard it's

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so important that people feel heard you

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don't have to adopt their idea you only

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owe them an explanation and discussion

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as to why not because that's where the

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you

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hi I'm Rhonda Smitherman Hickman chief

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information office lead at the Michoud

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assembly facility when asked to do this

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video for women History Month I was

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extremely excited I started working at

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math 27 years ago and could not ask for

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a better job or a better group of folks

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to work with I received a mathematic and

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computer science degree from

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southeastern Louisiana University back

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in the 80s my parents bought me an IBM

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PC amber screen with a 300 baud modem I

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thought I was big Tom the only one in my

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dorm with a computer that could log into

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the mainframe after lab hours I can

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remember my first programming class and

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how excited I was to be one of two women

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in a predominantly male environment and

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then walking into a calculus 4 class and

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being told that the algebra class was

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down the hall like a girl couldn't

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handle calc for all of these

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expectations challenged me and prepared

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me for the workplace I work for NASA

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it's the first three comm file servers

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used five and a quarter inch floppies as

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external media program the first land

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application using debase thought that a

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10 Meg Bernoulli the size of a textbook

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was the greatest thing since sliced

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bread technology has is changing at the

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speed of light nASA has always been very

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supportive of women in the workplace I

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have personally experienced this I have

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two young men Ryan and red that

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literally grew up during my years at

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math working for NASA I had challenges

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that forced me to balance a career and

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being a mom in an office environment

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with mostly men before Hurricane Katrina

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NASA provided in an on-site daycare

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facility it allowed me the opportunity

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to spend more time with my children I

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could eat lunch with them once or twice

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a week when they started school they

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would joke with their classmates and

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teacher and tell them that their mom was

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an astronaut I had to prove myself and

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my work while worrying when a child was

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sick dealing with homework and projects

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after an exhausting day planning dinner

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and so on and so on things that others

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in my department did not have to focus

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on as a woman this made me stronger and

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more determined than ever as women we do

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have many challenges and obstacles God

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made us very strong we need to prove