Ellen Ochoa, Space Boss
Astronaut. Director. Pioneer of spacecraft tech.
Let me just take a moment to tell you how ~amazing~ Dr. Ellen Ochoa is.
Humble beginnings
Just like everyone else in the country, Dr. Ochoa was following the Apollo program as an 11 year old girl. Unfortunately, no one asked her if she wanted to become an astronaut because it just wasn’t something women aspired to be. In fact, women weren’t really allowed to become astronauts.
As she continued to grow up, Ochoa faced some adversity. When finishing highschool, Ochoa was interested in Service Academies, but they didn’t accept women at the time. She ended up going to San Diego State, where some people did seem interested in helping her, but others (including professors) weren’t. They would go as far as even discouraging her when looking for a major. Luckily, a professor in the physics department explained to her what kind of careers she could have as a physics major and all that good stuff. (Spoiler alert: she graduated with a bachelors in physics and went on to Stanford University to earn a masters and doctorate in electrical engineering.) No one else bothered to help her out, likely because of her gender.
“We do a disservice to society as a whole if we are not providing the same kinds of encouragement.”
Her career as an astronaut
Even without much help for her college professors, Dr. Ochoa went on and made a name for herself as an astronaut.
Her career started when she joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer at Ames Research Center. Two years later, she was selected to be an astronaut and moved to the Johnson Space Center. It was there where she because an astronaut. In 1993, she served on a nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery, becoming the first Hispanic-American woman in space.
Knowing she was earning this title, she wanted to pay homage to the women before her who were making a change, especially because there were two other women on the flight. She decided to take the National Women’s Party’s flag into space with her, a flag that was used when fighting for women’s right to vote.
If you don’t think she’s amazing yet, consider that she logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit. (For some perspective, that’s roughly 41 days.) Here, she studied the Earth’s ozone layer from outer space, winning her the US Distinguished Service Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership, and four NASA Space Flight Medals.
Not only did she accomplish these things on the flights, but she also operated a robot arm on several flights. It transferred clothing, computers, and medical equipment from the shuttle to the International Space Station. How many people can say the same?
“We had docked in the international space center. We were looking down at the Earth, and we were watching bright green auroras, and the sun came up and it illuminated the station instantaneously. It was just an amazing visual view. It was amazing to see what we were building in space, and we had an international crew…There were a lot of amazing thoughts associated with that moment .”
— Ochoa on a moment in her final space mission
Director of the Johnson Space Center
Not only was Dr. Ochoa the first Hispanic-American woman in soace, but she became the JSC’s first Hispanic director. She continued to bring the space program forward during her time as director. Ochoa oversaw the Orion program, the nations astronaut corps, and mission operations for the International Space Station. Part of the job description includes decisions that can impact life and death of her employees, making it an important position.
Pioneer of Spacecraft Tech
As if her career wasn’t already impressive enough, Ochoa also worked for the Sandia National Laboratory. She designed optical systems for them! She’s a co-inventor on three patents. One is an optical object recognition method. Another of her inventions is an optical inspection system. Last but not least, she also invented a method for removing noise in images.
Look at how much clearer the image on the left is.
A career of success
Even though Dr. Ochoa didn’t have any of the same opportunities her male counterparts did, she became a successful woman. She broke barriers that no one else had before, and she was able to create things she had never dreamed of creating. Now, she realizes that if she were male, she more people would’ve wanted to help her out and given her more resources, but she was able to preservere without it.
TL;DR
- Dr. Ellen Ochoa is an accomplished woman
- Ochoa has earned multiple awards, including the US Distinguished Service Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership, and four NASA Space Flight Medals.
- She’s the first Hispanic woman to go into space and the first Hispanic director of the Johnson Space Center. She’s also the second female director of JSC.
- After 30 years at NASA, she retired
- Even through adversity, she was able to create her own path and a successful career
I hope Dr. Ellen Ochoa inspires you to be the most you can be! She has definitely inspired me.
