Ellen Ochoa (born May 10, 1958) is an American engineer, inventor, former NASA astronaut, and former director of the Johnson Space Center. She is best known as the first Hispanic woman—and the first Latina—to travel into space, achieving this milestone in 1993 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Over a career spanning more than three decades at NASA, she flew four space missions, logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit, held key leadership positions, and became a prominent advocate for STEM education, particularly for women and underrepresented minorities.
Ochoa was born in Los Angeles, California, to Joseph and Rosanne (née Deardorff) Ochoa. Her paternal grandparents had immigrated from Sonora, Mexico, to Arizona and later California. She grew up in La Mesa (near San Diego) as the middle of five children. Her parents divorced while she was in high school; she lived with her mother and brothers. Neither parent held a college degree, but her mother later took college courses, modeling lifelong learning. Ochoa excelled academically and musically. She played classical flute and participated in the Civic Youth Orchestra. She graduated as valedictorian from Grossmont High School in 1975.
Although Stanford offered her a full scholarship, Ochoa chose San Diego State University to remain near her younger brothers. She initially considered journalism, business, or computer science but ultimately majored in physics, drawn to math and science. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1980, again as valedictorian. She then earned a Master of Science (1981) and a Ph.D. (1985) in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Her doctoral research focused on optical systems for information processing.
After completing her doctorate, Ochoa worked as a research engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and later at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. She specialized in optical systems and computer vision for aerospace applications. She is a co-inventor on three patents: an optical inspection system, an optical object recognition method, and a technique for removing noise from images. At Ames she managed the Intelligent Systems Technology Branch, supervising research into computational systems for spaceflight. These technical contributions established her reputation as an innovator before she entered the astronaut program.
Inspired in part by Sally Ride’s selection as the first American woman astronaut, Ochoa applied to NASA’s astronaut corps. She was not selected on her first two attempts but persisted. In January 1990 she was chosen as part of NASA Astronaut Group 13. After completing training, she became an astronaut in July 1991—the first Hispanic woman to achieve that status. Her early technical assignments in the Astronaut Office included work on flight software, computer hardware, robotics, and serving as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control.
Ochoa’s first flight was STS-56, launched April 8, 1993, aboard Discovery. During the nine-day mission she served as a mission specialist on the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-2 (ATLAS-2) payload, which studied the Sun’s interaction with Earth’s atmosphere and the ozone layer. This flight made her the first Latina in space. She later recalled never tiring of watching Earth from orbit. On a subsequent mission she became the first astronaut to play a musical instrument in space, performing on her flute.
Her second mission, STS-66 in November 1994 aboard Atlantis, saw her serve as payload commander for ATLAS-3, continuing solar and atmospheric research. She operated the shuttle’s robotic arm (Canadarm) to deploy and retrieve satellites. In 1999 she flew STS-96 on Discovery as mission specialist and flight engineer. This historic flight marked the first docking of a space shuttle with the International Space Station (ISS); the crew delivered supplies and equipment. Her final mission, STS-110 in 2002 aboard Atlantis, involved installing the S0 truss—the central backbone of the ISS—using the station’s robotic arm and supporting spacewalks. Across her four flights Ochoa accumulated approximately 978 to nearly 1,000 hours (about 41 days, 19 hours) in space.
Beyond flying, Ochoa took on progressive leadership roles. She served as Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, Acting Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office, and Director of Flight Crew Operations. In 2007 she became deputy director of the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. On January 1, 2013, she was named the 11th director of JSC—the first Hispanic person and only the second woman to hold the position (after Carolyn Huntoon). She led the center during a period of transition in human spaceflight, overseeing operations related to the ISS, commercial crew development, and preparations for future exploration. She retired from NASA in 2018 after more than 30 years of service.
Ochoa’s contributions have been widely recognized. She received NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal (the agency’s highest honor), Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership Medal, and four Space Flight Medals. In 2017 she was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. In 2024 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Multiple schools across the United States— in California, Texas, Washington, Oklahoma, and elsewhere—bear her name. She holds several honorary doctorates and is a fellow of organizations including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Personally, Ochoa is married to Coe Fulmer Miles; they have two sons. She continues to enjoy classical music, travel, and family activities. A passionate advocate for education, she frequently speaks about the importance of persistence, hard work, and support systems in pursuing STEM careers. She emphasizes that representation matters and that earlier trailblazers—women and people of color selected by NASA in the late 1970s and 1980s—helped open doors for her generation. In interviews she has noted that with determination and encouragement, “the sky’s not the limit.”
Ellen Ochoa’s career illustrates the power of scientific curiosity combined with resilience. From a California childhood shaped by divorce and limited family educational attainment, she rose through rigorous academic training, patented inventions, multiple spaceflights that advanced atmospheric science and ISS construction, and ultimately executive leadership of one of NASA’s most critical centers. Her story continues to inspire students, especially young Latinas and women in engineering, demonstrating that excellence in science and exploration knows no ethnic or gender boundaries. As both a pioneer who broke barriers in orbit and a leader who guided human spaceflight programs on the ground, she has left a lasting legacy in American space history.