This December here at ScienceGrrl Glasgow we have decided to celebrate 12 women in STEM in the lead up to the end of the year and the long-awaited holidays. This blog post will be the first in the series, and we are kicking off with engineer and astronaut Dr Ellen Ochoa!
Dr Ochoa was born on May 10th, 1958 and has many impressive accomplishments to her name. Before she travelled in space, she graduated Stanford with a masters degree in science and a doctorate. While she was completing the electrical engineering program at Stanford University she was able to watch STS-1 Columbia, the first spaceflight of NASA’s Space Shuttle program take off. She later stated that as she watched history being made, this inspired her to consider the endless possibilities.
Part of her time completing her doctorate and later with PhD in hand she worked on optical systems for information processing – after having a patent and three co-patents for this new technology!
Dr Ochoa didn’t forget watching STS-1 take off and a year and a half after submitting her application to become an astronaut (it being delayed due to the tragic Challenger disaster) she was called forward for interview. Like many trailblazers, hardworking and talented role models – this wasn’t a straight path. She received news a while later – she was not selected this time around. However, in true trailblazer fashion, she did not give up.
One of my favourite parts of this story is this – she refused to see this rejection as a personal failure. It is far too easy in this day and age to be cruel to yourself and instantly see something not going exactly to plan as a failing. Dr Ochoa didn’t, and she said something worthwhile remembering – “I didn’t see it as a failure, I saw it as – what could I do to make me a better candidate next time?”
With those words, she later earned a private pilot license – the next time she applied to become an astronaut, she was accepted. During her time as an astronaut, she went into space four times and tallied up nearly a thousand hours in orbit. That’s over a month in space!
While in space, she studied the Earths ozone layer, our protection against the Sun’s harmful radiation. With our home planet 200 miles below she said it wasn’t just about experiencing space, but also her purpose for being there – it is the voyage of discovery after all.
As an engineer, the first Hispanic woman to travel into space and when her mission ended becoming the first Hispanic director and only the second female director of the Johnson Space Centre – she is a trailblazer for little Hispanic girls with dreams of engineering and space travel everywhere. We could all learn a little from Dr Ochoa’s attitude to the unexpected obstacles life throws in your way. I know personally next time something does not go quite to plan, instead of thinking I have failed, I will consider – “what can I do to be better next time?” A dream is worth fighting for, after all.
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Written by: Carla Suciu (@carladoesscicom)