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In 1958, a baby girl was
born in Los Angeles, California.
Little did her parents know that
she would grow up to become the
world’s first female astronaut of
Hispanic American heritage.
Her name was Ellen Ochoa,
and this is her story.
Ellen Ochoa: Space Pioneer
Born and raised in California,
Ellen was an excellent student.
At school, she loved math and
music. She went to college at San
Diego State University. There, she
earned a degree in physics. After
college, she had a decision to make.
Would she become a scientist or
a musician? She was so good at
the flute that she could have
become a professional flutist.
by David Arroyo
Make connections between literary and informational texts with similar ideas and support your ideas with details from the texts.
As much as Ellen loved
music, she listened to her
mother. Her mother always
said that education is
the key to a successful
career. So Ellen went
on to graduate school.
At Stanford University,
Ellen studied electrical
engineering. She did not
know what type of job
she would pursue—until
she heard about Sally Ride.
In 1985, Sally Ride became the
first female astronaut in the
United States. Suddenly, Ellen
knew what she wanted to do.
She set her sights on becoming
an astronaut.
It takes many years of hard
work to become an astronaut.
First, you have to develop
expertise in engineering.
Ellen’s expertise is in building
systems that can see “objects”
in space. Her inventions helped
NASA to find and understand
objects in space better.
NASA was impressed with Ellen’s engineering
talent. In 1990, NASA accepted Ellen into its astronaut
training program. She became an official astronaut
in 1991. In 1993, Ellen took her first flight into space.
She spent nine days on the space shuttle Discovery as
a mission specialist. The next year, she traveled on
another space shuttle mission.
There is a lot more to being an astronaut than taking
a trip on a space shuttle. While on her shuttle missions,
Ellen studied the sun’s effect on the Earth’s climate and
atmosphere. She examined the Earth’s ozone layer. All of
her years of school and her scientific knowledge helped
her to do this important research.
Today, Ellen Ochoa is still working for NASA.
This remarkable woman is a pioneer in spacecraft
technology, an inventor, an astronaut, and a
scientist. Out of respect for her accomplishments,
two schools have been named after her. The
students and staff at one of the schools said they
wanted her name because Ellen Ochoa was an
inspiration to them. Without a doubt, Ellen Ochoa
will continue to inspire people
for a long time
to come.
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