Ellen Ochoa, (born May 10, 1958, Los Angeles, California, U.S.), American astronaut and administrator who was the primary Hispanic girl to journey into area (1993). She later served as director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (2013–18).
Ochoa studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, incomes a grasp’s diploma (1981) and a doctorate (1985). A specialist within the growth of optical techniques, she labored as a analysis engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and on the Ames Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She helped create a number of techniques and strategies that had been awarded patents, together with optical techniques for the detection of imperfections in a repeating sample and for the popularity of objects.
Ochoa was chosen by NASA in 1990 to take part in its astronaut program, and she or he turned the primary Hispanic feminine astronaut when she accomplished her coaching in 1991. In April 1993 she served as mission specialist aboard the STS-56 mission of the area shuttle Discovery, turning into the primary Latina to be launched into area. During this mission, she and the opposite mission specialists carried out varied experiments collectively known as ATLAS-2 (Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-2) that studied the Sun and its interplay with Earth’s ambiance. The crew additionally launched the SPARTAN satellite tv for pc, which studied the photo voltaic wind for 2 days earlier than it was retrieved. She was a part of the STS-66 Atlantis mission in November 1994. STS-66 carried the ATLAS-3, which reflew experiments Ochoa had labored with on her earlier flight. Another small satellite tv for pc, CRISTA-SPAS, was launched, which studied Earth’s ambiance for eight days earlier than being retrieved.
In May 1999 she was a member of the Discovery STS-96 crew that executed the primary docking to the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS then consisted of solely two modules, the Russian Zarya and the American Unity. Discovery carried provides to the ISS to get it prepared for astronauts to remain there. It additionally carried two cranes to connect to the station exterior that may be utilized in constructing the remainder of the station. Two astronauts, Tamara Jernigan and Daniel Barry, carried out a virtually eight-hour area stroll to put in the cranes whereas Ochoa assisted them with Discovery’s robotic arm. Ochoa returned to the ISS in April 2002 on the STS-110 mission of the shuttle Atlantis. The first truss, which fashioned the ISS’s body, was added; Ochoa and astronaut Daniel Bursch used the station’s robotic arm to carry the truss out of Atlantis’s payload bay and fasten it to the station. On her 4 spaceflights, Ochoa spent greater than 40 days in area.
In 2007 Ochoa turned deputy director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and 6 years later she was promoted to director. She was the second girl to carry the put up and the primary Hispanic. During her tenure she notably oversaw work on the Orion, which was scheduled to journey farther than different crewed spacecraft, permitting for human exploration of such locations as Mars. Ochoa retired from the Johnson Space Center in 2018 and have become vice chair of the National Science Board, which runs the National Science Foundation.