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SUCCESS STORIES: Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, Ph.D..
BY KATHY NASH
In July 1978, 35 astronaut candidates began a rigorous training and evaluation period at Johnson Space Center in Houston to prepare them for future space shuttle missions. Not only did this program represent a major technological leap forward; it was also a sociological milestone because the National Aeronautics and Space Administration made good on its promise to diversify its pool of astronauts. This group of 20 mission specialists and 15 pilots, which included six women and four minority candidates, achieved full astronaut status in August 1979.
Eleven years and many shuttle missions later, Dr. Ellen Ochoa was selected for NASA's 13th such group of astronaut candidates, and earned astronaut status the following year. Her technical assignments to date include flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, crew representative for flight software and computer hardware development, and crew representative for robotics development, testing and training.
Ochoa's scholastic and professional career is full of outstanding achievements, including valedictorian of San Diego State University; recipient of the Stanford Engineering Fellowship and IBM Predoctoral Fellowship; Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award as Most Promising Engineer in Government; and Student Soloist Award Winner, Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Besides being an astronaut, Ochoa is a classical flutist and private pilot.
"I don't think you have to be a special person to go into math, science or technical careers," says Ochoa, who reflected recently on her experiences as an astronaut.
1. WHAT WAS YOUR CAREER PATH?
I earned a bachelor of science in physics from San Diego State University and a master's of science and a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University. My doctorate dissertation focused on photorefractive crystals to perform the nonlinear filtering of images. This work resulted in a patent for a system to detect defects in periodic objects. After Stanford, I continued to work as an optics researcher at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., for three years. I joined NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., in 1988. There, I led a research group on optical recognition systems for space automation. In 1991, I became an astronaut.
2. WHAT EDUCATIONAL AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS MUST CANDIDATES MEET?
Mission specialists and pilot astronaut candidates must have earned a...