Ellen Ochoa Achievements

Ellen Ochoa Essay

When thinking about people who have flown in space, they often overlook the first Hispanic woman to navigate space. Over four space missions, Ellen Ochoa spent approximately 1,000 hours in orbit researching the ozone layer on Earth. She later rose to become the second woman and first Latina director of the NASA Johnson Space Center. Her accomplishments were remarkable because she was the first Hispanic woman in space. As the second woman and first Latina to direct the NASA Johnson Space Center, she deserves to be remembered.

The path to becoming the first Hispanic woman to travel to space was not easy. Inspired by Sally Ride, “Ochoa joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer at Ames Research Center and moved to Johnson Space Center in 1990 when she was selected as an astronaut.” Ochoa applied three times before being accepted as an astronaut. “Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic female to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1993.” Being the first Hispanic female, Ochoa spent almost 1,000 hours in space! “She flew a total of 4 missions, serving as the flight

“Dr. Ellen Ochoa, a veteran astronaut, was the 11th director of the Johnson Space Center.” Along with her early accomplishments, she also managed to be one of the administrators in her own wing. “She was JSC's first Hispanic director, and its second female director.” She was amazing at breaking boundaries throughout NASA. “She guided more than 10,000 civil servants and contractors at the NASA Johnson Space Center to adopt a lean, agile, adaptive-to-change approach to advancing human space exploration, while also launching initiatives designed to expand diversity and inclusion.” With her fresh perspective as a Hispanic woman, she managed to change the Johnson Space Center for the