Ellen Ochoa
Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, inventor, musician, NASA astronaut, and former director of Johnson Space Center. In 1993 she became the first Latina to fly in space.
- Born
- May 10, 1958
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Los Angeles, California,United States
Flights
4
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
40 days, 19 hours, 36 minutes
Bio
Ochoa studied physics at San Diego State University and earned master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Her technical work before NASA focused on optical systems and image processing, including patented work in optical inspection and recognition.
Selected by NASA in 1990, Ochoa flew four shuttle missions: STS-56, STS-66, STS-96, and STS-110. Her flights covered atmospheric science, Earth-observation research, the first shuttle docking to the International , and major ISS truss assembly.
After flying, Ochoa became a senior NASA leader and served as director of Johnson Space Center from 2013 to 2018. Her career combines technical research, flight operations, and institutional leadership rather than only a mission list.