Princess Cruises christened its newest vessel, Sky Princess on Saturday, December 7, in a tribute to the pioneering women of the United States' Space Program who represent achievements in science, technology, and research, through innovation as well as their desire to explore the sky's far reaches.
For the occasion, Princess chose the theme of "Reach for the Sky" and honored a couple of women of NASA for their achievements in the space program: Capt. Kay Hire, and engineer Poppy Northcutt, who both served as the godmothers of the newbuild.
Capt. Hire started her 30-year career in NASA as a mechanical systems engineer, helping to launch over 40 space missions. Later, as an astronaut, she logged a total of 700 hours in space, flew more than 12 million miles, as well as orbited the earth 475 times.
When NASA made history with the mission to the moon, Poppy Northcutt was the first female mission control engineer. After the crew of Apollo 13 became stranded in the service module, it was the calculations of her team that brought them home safely.
Sky Princess recently finished her inaugural season in Europe and is currently sailing on Caribbean cruises through spring 2020.