Dr. Ellen Ochoa, a veteran astronaut and trailblazing leader, was the first Hispanic woman in space and the 11th director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center—also its first Hispanic and second female director. She joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer and became an astronaut in 1990, flying on four space shuttle missions, including her historic 1993 flight aboard Discovery, logging nearly 1,000 hours in space. With a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford and a background in optical systems research, she holds three patents and has authored several technical papers. Dr. Ochoa has received numerous honors, including NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award. She is a Fellow of AAAS and AIAA, serves on multiple boards, and chairs the National Medal of Technology and Innovation's Nomination Evaluation Committee. She is married to attorney Coe Miles, and they have two sons. Courtesy of NASA.