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The Hubble Space Telescope is
one of the most scientifically

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productive spacecraft in NASA’s
history and changed our

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fundamental understanding of the
universe.

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Behind Hubble are some
remarkable women who overcame

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challenges to help make Hubble
one of the greatest scientific

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instruments of all time.

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[music]

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Mission Possible: Women of the
Hubble Space Telescope

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[music swells]

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One Christmas, I
remember my mom giving me a

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Barbie doll house—a dream house.
They put it together the night

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before, I guess, and I was
pretty upset that it was already

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put together because I wanted to
do it. That was one of

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the things—that was one of the
things very early on that they

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had a clue that maybe she wanted
to do something with her hands

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and that later evolved to
engineering. My father used to

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play games with me, mental
arithmetic, I recognize now

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that it was algebra on his part,
but of course, I didn't know

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they were algebra as an
eight-year old. 

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I never really thought

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about being a scientist when I
was growing up because I didn't

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know any scientists, I didn't
really know that that was a

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pathway I could pursue. I was
not someone who had a distinct

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thought in mind of what I want
to be or what I want to do when

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I grow up. I knew two things
really were strong interests for

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me, I was inspired and curious
and fascinated by the grand

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adventure I was seeing the
early astronauts have on

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television. I watched everything
from Alan Shepherd's 15 minute

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flight on forward. [Recording:
It's progressing beautifully. I

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believe they are setting up the
flag now.] And it was just a

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scale of drama and boldness and
adventure that even the world

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had never seen and watching that
at a young age was a great

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inspiration to me. But it mainly
made me curious. About how do

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people get that kind of
adventure in their life? I was

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born in Korea in the poor
environment. My mother she

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raised two daughters as a single
mom. She decided that we should

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immigrate to the United States.
And then things were really

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tough because the language and
the kids were mean back then;

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they were always making fun of
us, my sister and I. And most of

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my friends were dropping out of
high school and most kids just

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get a job after high school.
That was my goal also. I worked

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in the sewing factory with my
mom. I was making a penny for

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sewing one piece of clothes. I
thought: wait a minute. This is

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not, this is not something I
want to do. I can't do this. I

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need to better myself. Make a
better living. I needed to

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expand my knowledge I guess in
math. Study something on it. My

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counselor of course said:
engineering is for you. I am

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from Baltimore, Maryland. Born
and raised. I attended Baltimore

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public city schools and I also
attended high school which was

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an engineering-based. It was
not too open to women being at

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the school. The other challenges
might have been financial.

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Having to work through college
and having to work a semester to

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pay for the upcoming semester
which of course delayed me

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graduating. And I don't know if
I would have ended up at Goddard

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had I finished when I thought I
should finish. Well, between

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fifth and sixth grade, I
organized my friends into an

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astronomy club to study the
constellations. And by seventh

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grade, I decided I wanted to be
an astronomer and I was going to

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try for it. And I knew it was
going to take me an additional

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twelves years of schooling but I
figured I'd try. And if I didn't

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make it, I could probably teach
physics or math in high school.

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I was told from the beginning
that women cannot be scientists.

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In high school, one of the
experiences I remember is that I

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asked my guidance counsellor for
permission to take a second year

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of Algebra instead of a fifth
year of Latin. And she looked

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down her nose at me and sneered:
“What lady would take

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mathematics instead of Latin?” I
was not encouraged as a woman.

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My thesis professor was one I'd
often didn't get the support

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that I expected. There was a
period in which he went for six

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months without speaking to me
even when I said hello to him in

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the hall. He was angry because
I'd left the University to go to

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the government. My role in
Hubble was as Program Scientist.

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Being the first executive woman
at NASA turned out not to be

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terribly eventful. I was
accepted very readily as a

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scientist and in my job. The men
were very cooperative. I never

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found that anybody looked at me
from a gender standpoint. I was

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part of the group. Hey,
Facebook! We're here live at the

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Goddard Space Flight Center. I'm
Erin Kisliuk and we're talking

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about Hubble's brand new
frontier. It was the summer

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before my senior year. My
internship was, um, with Human

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Exploration and Operations in
their Education and Outreach

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Group and it was the opporutnity
of a life time. The course of my

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career took me to Houston to
work for NASA, it took me back

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to the DC area to work for NASA
again and I found myself at age

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25 for reasons completely beyond
my control having lost three

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different jobs and I thought
that was it for me to be honest.

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Um, but, I gave it one last shot
and I'm here. In the place I

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exactly wanted to be. And I was
nearing the end of graduate

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school when NASA opened the
competition for space shuttle

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astronauts. I never thought of
my life that way: I want to be

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an astronaut. So when the Hubble
deployment crew was being chosen

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one of the key factors in the
NASA leadership mind was someone

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with experience in every one of
the crew positions. These guys

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are looking for expedition
managers. They want someone that

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is a hybrid of the ship's
company as we would call it and

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are attached to the shuttle and
we were going to host and

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operate scientific experiments.
So it's a different model than

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an oceanographic research ship,
but familiar. I think there were

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times when I felt really
intimidated. I had come from a

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small town in rural Arkansas
when I entered the University

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environment, I felt intimidated
a lot of times in my classes.

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But I learned how to seek out
help. I learned how to find

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mentors, find tutors, ask
questions and not be embarrassed

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to do that. 

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The advice I have
for young people, especially

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those underprivileged is don't
let anything stop you. If I

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hadn't had some of the stumbling
blocks I had to get to where I

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am now, a, I wouldn't appreciate
it as much as I do right now,

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and b, I don't know if I would
have been in the right place at

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the right time to end up where I
am now. So, if there's

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something, this light at the end
of the tunnel that's keeping you

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going, keep your eye on the
prize. You don't want to spend

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your life doing something you
don't like. Stay curious. Learn

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how to learn. Understand you're
going to have to match your

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passions and your dreams with
really hard work. A lot of

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people have already paved the
way. There's still a lot of

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things that have to change, but
I think a lot of doors are open.

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And, opportunities are vast. I'm
here and there are a lot of

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others like me here. If I can do
it, they can do it also.

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www.nasa.gov/hubble 
@NASAHubble

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[satellite swooshes by, beep
beep, beep beep]

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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
www.nasa.gov/goddard 

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[music fades]