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Ellen
Ochoa
Biography
Name:
Ellen Ochoa (Ph.D) NASA Astronaut
Personal
Data: Born May 10, 1958 in Los Angeles, California, but considers
La Mesa, California, to be her hometown. Married to Coe Fulmer Miles
of Molalla, Oregon. They have two children. She is a classical flutist
and private pilot, and also enjoys volleyball and bicycling. Her
mother, Rosanne Ochoa, resides in La Mesa. His parents, Louis and
Georgia Zak, reside in Waldport, Oregon.
Education:
Graduated from Grossmont High School, La Mesa, California, in 1975;
received a bachelor of science degree in physics from San Diego
State University in 1980, a master of science degree and doctorate
in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1981 and 1985,
respectively.
Organizations:
Member of the Optical Society of America (OSA), the American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma
Xi honor societies.
Special
Honors: NASA awards include the Exceptional Service Medal (1997),
Outstanding Leadership Medal (1995), Space Flight Medals (1999,
1994, 1993), and two Space Act Tech Brief Awards (1992). Recipient
of numerous other awards, including the Women in Aerospace Outstanding
Achievement Award, The Hispanic Engineer Albert Baez Award for Outstanding
Technical Contribution to Humanity, the Hispanic Heritage Leadership
Award, and San Diego State University Alumna of the Year. Member
of the Presidential Commission on the Celebration of Women in American
History.
Experience:
As a doctoral student at Stanford, and later as a researcher at
Sandia National Laboratories and NASA Ames Research Center, Dr.
Ochoa investigated optical systems for performing information processing.
She is a co-inventor on three patents for an optical inspection
system, an optical object recognition method, and a method for noise
removal in images. As Chief of the Intelligent Systems Technology
Branch at Ames, she supervised 35 engineers and scientists in the
research and development of computational systems for aerospace
missions. Dr. Ochoa has presented numerous papers at technical conferences
and in scientific journals.
Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Ochoa became an astronaut
in July 1991. Her technical assignments to date include flight software
verification, crew representative for flight software and computer
hardware development, crew representative for robotics development,
testing, and training, Assistant for Space Station to the Chief
of the Astronaut Office, directing crew involvement in the development
and operation of the Station, and spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM)
in Mission Control. A veteran of three space flights, Dr. Ochoa
has logged over 719 hours in space. She was a mission specialist
on STS-56 in 1993, was the Payload Commander on STS-66 in 1994,
and was a mission specialist and flight engineer on STS-96 in 1999.
Dr. Ochoa is assigned as a flight engineer on STS-110, a 10-day
mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for launch
in early 2002.
Space
Flight Experience: STS-56 ATLAS-2 Discovery (April 4-17, 1993)
was a 9-day mission during which the crew conducted atmospheric
and solar studies in order to better understand the effect of solar
activity on the Earth's climate and environment. Dr. Ochoa used
the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to deploy and capture the Spartan
satellite, which studied the solar corona.
Dr.
Ochoa was the Payload Commander on the STS-66 Atmospheric Laboratory
for Applications and Science-3 mission (November 3-14, 1994). ATLAS-3
continued the series of Spacelab flights to study the energy of
the Sun during an 11-year solar cycle and to learn how changes in
the sun's irradiance affect the Earth's climate and environment.
Dr. Ochoa used the RMS to retrieve the CRISTA-SPAS atmospheric research
satellite at the end of its 8-day free flight.
STS-96
Discovery (May 27 to June 6, 1999) was a 10-day mission during which
the crew performed the first docking to the International Space
Station, and delivered 4 tons of logistics and supplies in preparation
for the arrival of the first crew to live on the station early next
year. Dr. Ochoa coordinated the transfer of supplies and also operated
the RMS during the 8-hour space walk. The mission was accomplished
in 153 Earth orbits, traveling 4 million miles in 235 hours and
13 minutes. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
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