Back

Princess Cruises Celebrates the Women of NASA at Dedication Ceremony Naming New Sky Princess

– Inaugural Theme Honors Two Women Pioneers of U.S. Space Program Captain Kay Hire and Poppy Northcutt to Serve as Godmothers for Sky Princess

 

December 2019, Ft. Lauderdale FL: Two women pioneers of the U.S. Space program, Captain Kay Hire and Poppy Northcutt, were honored at the dedication and naming ceremony of Princess Cruises’ new ship “Sky Princess.”

Cited as the ship’s “Godmothers” – among the past “Godmothers of Princess Cruise” ships include Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge (Royal Princess, 2013), Diana, Princess of Wales (Royal Princess, 1984), Audrey Hepburn (Star Princess, 1989), Sophia Loren (Crown Princess, 1990) and Baroness Margaret Thatcher (Regal Princess, 1991) and Olivia de Havilland (Grand Princess, 1998)

 

During her 30 years with NASA, as a mechanical systems engineer, Captain Hire participated as an astronaut in over 40 space missions, logged 700 hours in space flew over 12 million miles, and orbited the earth 475 times.

 

Poppy Northcutt became the first female engineer at NASA’s mission control, calculating the return-to-earth trajectories for Apollo 8, the first mission to leave Earth’s orbit and circle the moon. She also helped return Apollo 13 astronauts safely to Earth after an oxygen tank exploded and damaged the service module. She received accolades and a great deal of media attention this past summer during the Apollo 11, 50th Anniversary look-back. Ms. Northcutt continues to consult for NASA and works professionally as an attorney focused on civil rights and equality for women.