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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