The primary Hispanic lady to launch into house is now the second feminine astronaut to be awarded america’ highest honor.
Ellen Ochoa, who later directed NASA’s Johnson House Middle in Houston, was bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom throughout a ceremony on the White Home on Friday (Might 3). Ochoa is the tenth astronaut to obtain the medal.
“For many, the American dream is to achieve success in no matter endeavor you select right here on Earth. For Dr. Ellen Ochoa, her dream was within the heavens,” stated President Joe Biden, who presided over the ceremony. “Ellen was the primary Hispanic lady to go to house, ushering in an entire new age of house exploration and what it means for each technology to succeed in for the celebrities.”
People chosen for the Presidential Medal of Freedom have considerably contributed to the prosperity, values or safety of america, world peace or different societal, public or personal endeavors, in accordance with the White Home.
“Wow, what an sudden and wonderful honor!” stated Ochoa, upon first listening to that she was going to be honored, in accordance with an announcement issued by NASA. “I am so grateful for all my wonderful NASA colleagues who shared my profession journey with me.”
Associated: Pioneering girls in house: A gallery of astronaut firsts
Ochoa was working as a analysis engineer at NASA’s Ames Analysis Middle in California when she was chosen with the company’s thirteenth group of astronauts in 1990. She flew on 4 house shuttle missions between 1993 and 2002, logging greater than 40 days in Earth orbit.
Throughout Ochoa’s first flight, STS-56, she used the house shuttle’s robotic arm to deploy and retrieve a satellite tv for pc that noticed the solar’s outer environment, the corona. The mission was dedicated to gathering information in regards to the relationship between the solar’s vitality output and Earth’s environment and the way these elements affected the planet’s ozone layer.
On her subsequent three missions, STS-66, STS-96 and STS-110, Ochoa continued to help within the research of Earth’s environment; she was among the many first astronauts to enter the Worldwide House Station; and later helped set up a section of the station’s spine truss.
Ochoa was the 18th U.S. lady to launch into house and twenty second worldwide. She was the 295th individual to go away Earth’s environment and the 288th to enter orbit, as recorded within the Affiliation of House Explorers’ Registry of House Vacationers.
In 2013, Ochoa was named the eleventh director of NASA’s Johnson House Middle, house to mission management and the U.S. astronaut corps. Solely the second lady to carry the place, Ochoa served for 5 years, throughout which she oversaw the collection of the primary crews to launch on industrial spacecraft and first yearlong mission aboard the Worldwide House Station.
Along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Ochoa has been acknowledged for her position within the U.S. house program with NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, and in 2017 was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Corridor of Fame in Florida. Colleges bear her identify at present in California, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.
Previous recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom embrace the primary American to orbit Earth, John Glenn; the Apollo 11 moon touchdown crew of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins; Apollo 13 crewmates James Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert; and first American lady in house, Sally Trip.
Different previous NASA honorees have included the Apollo 13 mission operations workforce (together with astronaut Edgar Mitchell), “Hidden Figures” mathematician Katherine Johnson and laptop programmer Margaret Hamilton, who led the MIT software program engineering workforce that developed the steering system for the Apollo spacecraft.
Ochoa was honored on Friday alongside 18 different Medal of Freedom recipients, together with former Vice President Al Gore, Senators Elizabeth Dole, John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg, former Speaker of the Home Nancy Pelosi, journalist Phil Donahue and actress Michelle Yeoh.
Additionally acknowledged by Biden was Jane Rigby, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard House Flight Middle in Maryland, who serves because the senior challenge scientist for the James Webb House Telescope.
“By unlocking the secrets and techniques of the galaxy, Dr. Rigby sparks a way of marvel deep in our souls,” stated Biden.
She labored on the event of the orbiting observatory for a few years after which led the characterization of Webb’s science efficiency after it was deployed in deep house in 2022.
“Webb has turn into a logo not solely of technical excellence and scientific discovery, but additionally of how a lot humanity can accomplish after we all work collectively,” stated Rigby in an announcement launched by NASA. “I am so proud and grateful to steer the wonderful Webb workforce.”
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