Rocketgirl Origins
When I was a toddler, my parents took me to the Air and Space Museum in D.C. There was an exhibit that let kids lay hands on air- and spacecraft, and the first time my chubby hand brushed the belly of a plane, that was it: I was a space kid. I loved rockets, planets, stars, and everything in between, so when it was time to set up my first email account, there was no question what my dad would choose. Rocketgirl, with my birth year tacked on, was my online identity for a decade. Even as an adult who has (mostly) set aside my dreams of working for NASA and for whom "girl" isn't quite the right word, Rocketgirl still reminds me what it means to have stars in my eyes, my head in the clouds, and my shoulders squared to put in the work.
A photograph of a physical photo of Caitlin, approx. age 5, wearing an astronaut Halloween costume. The costume consists of a blue jumpsuit with a space shuttle patch on the right side of the chest, a NASA patch on the left side, and an American flag patch on the left arm. There is also a white ballcap with a blue brim and a NASA patch on the front. Caitlin is seated on a couch looking off to the right of the photo.
A photograph of Caitlin as an adult, standing in a kitchen with their hands on their hips. Caitlin is wearing an astronaut jumpsuit very similar to the one pictured at left: powder blue instead of bright blue, the NASA patch and shuttle mission flipped, and with zip pockets under the chest patches. Caitlin has purple hair styled in a floppy mohawk and large dark framed glasses. She is smiling widely, eyes scrunched up in joy.