Ellen Ochoa was selected by NASA in 1990, making history as the the world’s first Hispanic astronaut in 1991. She is a mission specialist and flight engineer, making her a veteran of four space flights, logging triumphantly more than 950 hours in space. Despite being rejected two times from NASA’s Training Program, Ellen Ochoa pursued her passion and overcame society’s barriers for women to become an astronaut. Her importance in breaking barriers for women and inspiring others is clear in her words: “What everyone in the astronaut corps shares in common is not gender or ethnic background, but motivation, perseverance, and desire - the desire to participate in a voyage of discovery.”
Ochoa’s life involved her rising delight in space exploration. Ellen Ochoa was born on May …show more content…
She is the second woman to hold the title. Her career picked up little by little. Ochoa was offered a scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto, near San Francisco. She decided to study at San Diego University so that she could be close by her two younger brothers, still in high school at the time (Kelly). Early on, Ochoa thought about a career in Journalism. She took writing, business, and computer science classes before choosing physics as her major. When Ellen graduated in 1980, she was once again the valedictorian of her class (Brennan). In 1985 Ellen Ochoa applied for the NASA Training Program but she was turned down. She continued her work in the study of sight and light at Sandia National Laboratories and decided to get a pilot’s license. In 1987 she applied again. She was again turned down, but she was informed that she was among the top 100 of the many people who applied. Her third application was accepted in 1990. She finally finished training in 1991, which allowed her to be one of the 110 astronauts qualified for flight
Ochoa’s life involved her rising delight in space exploration. Ellen Ochoa was born on May …show more content…
She is the second woman to hold the title. Her career picked up little by little. Ochoa was offered a scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto, near San Francisco. She decided to study at San Diego University so that she could be close by her two younger brothers, still in high school at the time (Kelly). Early on, Ochoa thought about a career in Journalism. She took writing, business, and computer science classes before choosing physics as her major. When Ellen graduated in 1980, she was once again the valedictorian of her class (Brennan). In 1985 Ellen Ochoa applied for the NASA Training Program but she was turned down. She continued her work in the study of sight and light at Sandia National Laboratories and decided to get a pilot’s license. In 1987 she applied again. She was again turned down, but she was informed that she was among the top 100 of the many people who applied. Her third application was accepted in 1990. She finally finished training in 1991, which allowed her to be one of the 110 astronauts qualified for flight