In celebration of Women’s History Month, The Coyote Caller is recognizing women from around the world who have made a contribution to society. Today, we recognize Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman to go to space. Ochoa served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990 and has flown on a total of five missions.
She was born on May 10th, 1958, in California, to Rosanne and Joseph Ochoa. Ochoa graduated from San Diego University with her bachelor’s in physics, then later got her master’s degree and doctorate from Stanford University in electrical engineering.
She first joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer at the Ames Research Center before moving to the Johnson Space Center in 1990, this is where she chose to become an astronaut. Her first mission was a nine-day mission named STS-56, she was then chosen again for four more missions, STS-66, STS-96, and STS-110. She has logged nearly a thousand hours in orbit.
She then was elected to be the Deputy Center Director and the Director of Flight Crew Operations before becoming the second female Director of the Johnson Space Center.
She is a part of many organizations such as the Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Institute of Aeronautics (AIAA). She is also the chairman of the Nomination Evaluation Committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. She has been recognized with the highest awards that NASA has to offer, the Distinguished Service Medal and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award. She also has six schools named after her.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/about/people/orgs/bios/ochoa.html
