Nasa intern's response to Hinge date who asked if she was the receptionist goes viral

She studied how to prevent bone density loss and muscle atrophy in astronauts at Nasa's Ames Research Centre

A woman with a PhD in planetary science who previously interned at Nasa has gone viral after sharing her response to an online dating match who asked if she had worked at the space agency as "the receptionist".

Lauren McKeown, 28, recently moved from Ireland to London and was looking to make friends, so she turned to the dating app Hinge.

On her Hinge profile, McKeown revealed that she had interned at Nasa's Ames Research Center in California - which captured the attention of a potential match named Mikey who said: “F*** me that’s cool. Wait till I tell my parents.”

However, Mikey then went on to say: “So what are you, like the receptionist? JK, you look reasonably smart.”

McKeown shut down the sexist comment by responding: “Smart enough to know at least, that judging a woman's intelligence based on her appearance might not be the best way to initiate conversation.

”PS my mother is a primary school receptionist and is the wisest, most inspirational, and kindest person I know. So much so in fact that my PhD thesis in planetary science is dedicated to her.”

The 28-year-old then shared the exchange on Twitter, where she captioned screenshots of the messages: “And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I’m single.”

McKeown’s response has since been liked more than 178,000 times by people praising her for calling out Mikey’s behaviour.

“It doesn’t sound like Mikey has realised that women are also human beings,” one person wrote.

Another commented: “QUEEN.”

The story also prompted other women to share their own experiences with sexism in the workplace.

According to McKeown, who spoke to CNN, Mikey responded by apologising for his comments but adding that she “shouldn’t take things so seriously”.

“I unmatched,” she said.