Ellen Ochoa (1958- )
Ellen Ochoa broke significant ground in the scientific and astronautical realms with her array of stellar achievements, among them being the first Latina woman to enter space, the second woman and first Latinx to direct NASA’s Johnson’s Space Center, and the co-inventor of three patents related to optical technologies for space travel. Born in 1958 in Los Angeles and raised in La Mesa, CA, Ochoa was an exemplary student throughout her early years in school. Her father, Joseph, was born to Mexican parents and was bilingual in Spanish and English but chose to not teach his children Spanish in hopes of shielding them from the harassment and discrimination he experienced in school for speaking his parent’s native language. Her mother, Rosanne, went to college when Ellen was a baby in hopes of inspiring her children to do the same.
Ochoa was a skilled flautist considered studying music but ultimately decided to study engineering for her undergraduate degree at San Diego State University, but, as there was not many women in engineering, was discouraged and instead studied physics. However, she would go on to study electrical engineering, earning both her master and doctorate degrees from Stanford University. She worked as a research engineer after graduating and in 1990 after long pursuing the opportunity, was selected by NASA to fly to space and made history as the first Latina woman astronaut to fly into space in 1993. Her first mission centered on better understanding the earth’s climate and the sun’s effect on earth. She would visit space in her flight missions four times during her astronautical career and became the first person to play a flute while in orbit. Ochoa retired from NASA in 2018 after a 30-year career.