© Latinas in History 2008
Ellen
Ochoa became the first Latina to travel into space. When the space
shuttle Discovery (STS-56) ascended into the sky in 1993, the thirty
four year old astronaut was on board. Ochoa was born and raised in
California, earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from
Stanford University. She became a research engineer at Sandia National
Laboratories specializing in optics. She applied to the NASA space
program but was initially rejected. In 1987 Ochoa made the cut and
became chief of the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch at the NASA/Ames
Research Center. Following her first flight into space, Ochoa flew
again on the Atlantis shuttle (STS-66) as the payload commander, and
in 1999 she was a mission specialist and flight engineer on Discovery’s
mission to dock with the International Space Station. Among the many
honors she has received, are the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Medallion
of Excellence (1993), and the Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award (1995).
Ochoa’s achievements are found in hundreds of textbooks used
in the schools today.
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Ellen
Ochoa NASA Images |
