Ellen Ochoa
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Ellen Ochoa was born May 10, 1958 in Los Angeles, CA. She is the first Hispanic woman Astronaut to go into Space and also to serve as the first Hispanic director and the second female director of Johnson Space Center.She has her B.S. Physics from San Diego State University, her MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (Optical Information Processing), also from Stanford University. She earned NASA's highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, as well as the Presidential Distinguished Rank of the Senior Executive Service, and honorary doctorates from six universities. She holds three patents for optical systems inventions.
Ellen Ochoa is also a classical flautist. According to the Houston Soace Center website, “Ochoa, a classical flutist of 25 years, played her musical instrument as she flew weightless around the Earth. Ochoa was not the first astronaut to play a musical instrument in space, but she was the first to play the flute in low-Earth orbit! According to NASA, STS-56 mission specialist Ochoa played a 15-minute set in space during which she played the “Marine Corps Hymn,” “Navy Hymn,” and “God Save the Queen” for her fellow crew members.” (https://spacecenter.org/astronaut-friday-ellen-ochoa/)
Further Reading at USC
Cavallaro, Umberto. Women Spacefarers: Sixty Different Paths to Space. Cham: Springer, 2017.
Faulkner, Nicholas, and Nicholas Croce. Top 101 Women of STEM. Rosen Publishing Group, 2016.
Gibson, Karen Bush. Women in Space : 23 Stories of First Flights, Scientific Missions, and Gravity-Breaking Adventures. Chicago Review Press, Incorporated, 2014.
Wayne, Tiffany K. American Women of Science Since 1900 [2 Volumes]. ABC-CLIO, 2011.
References
“Ellen Ochoa.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, July 24, 2019.
“Ellen Ochoa.” Ellen Ochoa - Engineering and Technology History Wiki, January 22, 2016.
"Patents by Inventor Ellen Ochoa." Justia Patents.
