A woman identified as Naomi H was recently granted with NASA internship offer, however, got fired after her Twitter posts that used slang language and even abused Former NASA engineer Homer Hickam.
The entire story started when Naomi took to the twitter to flaunt her NASA internship offer. Naomi however used harsh language saying “EVERYONE SHUT THE F*** UP. I GOT ACCEPTED FOR A NASA INTERNSHIP”
Her tweet got a reply from Homer Hickam, a member of the National Space Council, saying, “Language”, to which the student further got down harsh replying, “Suck my d*** and balls, I’m working at NASA.”
Unaware of Homer Hickam’s profile, Naomi ended up under a pool of embarrassment when Hickam answered back, telling Naomi that she was talking to a senior NASA official. Hickam tweeted her saying, “And I am on the National Space Council that oversees NASA.”
As a consequence of twitter quarrel, Naomi lost her internship offer. She eventually reached out and apologised to Hickam.
The NASA employee later wrote about the incident on his blog, saying he had nothing to do with her getting fired. Hickam added that he had a kind word with Naomi and has promised to get her a better position. Taking to his blog, Hickam wrote –
“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.
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.”
Hickam is one of more than two dozen people named to the newly-created National Space Council Users Advisory Group.
