Ellen Ochoa, First Hispanic Woman in Space

Born May 10, 1958 in Los Angeles, Ellen Lauri Ochoa considers La Mesa, California to be her home.

Her parents divorced when she was in high school. Her mother was left to raise and care for Ochoa and her three brothers and sister. While doing so, Roseanne Ochoa herself took college classes for twenty years while raising her children and finally earned three degrees.

Ellen says that "My mom's been a big influence on me in that she had to raise five kids a lot of the time on her own. She stressed that education is important and that it opens up a lot of options." [1]

Ochoa attended Grossmont High School and graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. She furthered her education by obtaining a Master of Science degree and a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University. As a student at Stanford, Ochoa investigated the idea of using optical systems to process information. She continued her research in this field at Sandia National Laboratories and NASA Ames Research Center.

She was selected by NASA in 1990 and became an astronaut in 1991. Now she is a veteran of four space flights with over 978 hours in space. She has had a number of assignments while on those space missions including missions specialist, payload commander, and flight engineer.

By 1993, Ochoa was on her first mission into space on the Space Shuttle Discovery. She was on a nine-day flight studying atmospheric and solar phenomena, with particular interest in the effects on earth's atmosphere.

In 1994, aboard the Atlantis Space Shuttle, Ochoa and her crew focused on the sun, gathering information on energy output and how fluctuations and other variable affect the earth's ozone levels.

Ochoa flew aboard the Discovery in 1999 which was the first Space Shuttle to dock with the International Space Station. From aboard the Discovery, it was Ochoa's mission to transfer supplies from the Shuttle to the Station. She used a robotic arm to transfer supplies for the first crews on board the Space Station to the Space Station itself.

Ellen says that "Only you put limitations on yourself about what you can achieve so don't be afraid to reach for the stars." [1]

When she wasn't in space, Ochoa worked as Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office and Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations.

Ochoa has a number of distinctions. In addition to being the first Hispanic woman in space, Ochoa is co-inventor of three patents. Her specialty is optical systems and she co-invented an optical inspection system, an optical object recognition method and a method to remove noise in images.

Ochoa has been recognized with numerous awards including the Distinguished Service Medal, four Space Flight Medals, Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award and The Hispanic Engineer Albert Baez Award for Outstanding Technical Contribution to Humanity, the Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award.

But one of the most gratifying aspects of her career is the opportunity to speak with young people. Ochoa receives many requests to speak to students and teachers about her career.

"I never thought about this aspect of the job when I was applying, but it's extremely rewarding," she noted in the Stanford University School of Engineering Annual Report, 1997-98.

When Ochoa does speak about her accomplishments, she always stresses the importance of study, particularly in the areas of math and science.

"I tell students that the opportunities I had were a result of having a good educational background. Education is what allows you to stand out." [2]

Ochoa is also an accomplished classical flutist and has a pilot's license. She is married to Coe Fulmer Miles and they have two children.

[1] Teacher Link

[2] Gale Cengage Learning