Ellen Ochoa, (born May 10, 1958, Los Angeles, California, U.S.), American astronaut and administrator who was the first Hispanic woman to travel into space (1993). She later served as director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (2013–18).
Ochoa studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, earning a master’s degree (1981) and a doctorate (1985). A specialist in the development of optical systems, she worked as a research engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and at the Ames Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She helped create several systems and methods that were awarded patents, including optical systems for the detection of imperfections in a repeating pattern and for the recognition of objects.
BRITANNICA EXPLORES
100 WOMEN TRAILBLAZERS
Meet extraordinary women who dared to bring gender equality and other issues to the forefront. From overcoming oppression, to breaking rules, to reimagining the world or waging a rebellion, these women of history have a story to tell.
Ochoa was selected by NASA in 1990 to participate in its astronaut program, and she became the first Hispanic female astronaut when she completed her training in 1991. In April 1993 she served as mission specialist aboard the STS-56 mission of the space shuttle Discovery, becoming the first Latina to be launched into space. During this mission, she and the other mission specialists performed various experiments collectively called ATLAS-2 (Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-2) that studied the Sun and its interaction with Earth’s atmosphere. The crew also released the SPARTAN satellite, which studied the solar wind for two days before it was retrieved. She was part of the STS-66 Atlantis mission in November 1994. STS-66 carried the ATLAS-3, which reflew experiments Ochoa had worked with on her previous flight. Another small satellite, CRISTA-SPAS, was released, which studied Earth’s atmosphere for eight days before being retrieved.
Explanation:
