Most children dream of being an astronaut and looking down at the Earth as they fly weightless through space to some exotic planet. This dream was realized for Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic female astronaut.
In a Feb. 27 speech sponsored by the Pratt School of Engineering and entitled "Engineer to Space Explorer: a Shuttle Astronaut's View," Ochoa related her experiences as a woman astronaut and engineer to a packed and eager crowd of students and professors. Ochoa focused on her experiences with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and participation in her four missions to the moon, and showed a documentary of her most recent mission to the International Space Station.
Ochoa spoke about her decision to study engineering after changing her major five times, and how she eventually became interested in becoming an astronaut.
"At the time I started college, of course, there were no women astronauts and I never really thought of it as a career," she said.
Ochoa went on to describe the rigorous physical and mental training she received after being selected for a 1993 mission to the moon. This training included understanding the purpose of all 2,000 buttons in the cockpit, mastering life in zero gravity and operating 55-foot-long robots arms. She seemed amazed as she described the space shuttle, its various purposes, and unique abilities.
"Throughout my training I came to realize what an extraordinary machine a space shuttle really is," she said. "It needs to provide air, water, food... and air conditioning, and the proper air pressure so that astronauts can live and work in space."
She expressed her amazement at the growth of the ISS and her excitement for the future possibilities in international collaboration and pending new discoveries.
The movie about Ochoa's most recent mission to the ISS documented her daily life and showed images of the crew doing everyday tasks such as eating breakfast, sleeping and vacuuming. It also displayed pictures of the shuttle in various stages of the voyage.
At the end of her speech, Ochoa fielded questions from the audience that ranged from the quality of the food to her opinion of future Mars exploration to her favorite part of being an astronaut. Her enthusiasm and love of her profession shined as she answered the latter.
"It's very hard to just name one thing.... [Being in space] is a very special experience and one that makes you not want to come back down to Earth," Ochoa said.
Ochoa was asked to speak at Duke as part of a larger plan of Pratt to expose engineering students to different career fields and opportunities that engineering can bring them.
"One of the future goals of the Pratt School is to bring in high profile speakers such as Ellen Ochoa that have used their degrees in engineering for the betterment of humankind.... We want to inspire all students to pursue careers in engineering," said Pratt Dean Kristina Johnson.
Associate professor of civil engineering Tod Laursen expanded on the purpose of Ochoa's speech and connected it to Engineering 10, a half-credit seminar which is intended to give Pratt students a sense of different engineering fields.
"We wanted to augment [Engineering 10] with some engineer speakers who are doing some things that you wouldn't expect engineers to be doing," Laursen said. "This lecture fit in just perfectly with that idea."
The speech was well received by the crowd.
"It helps to give a real human element to space flight--especially for the students in the Pratt School because we are usually just involved in the technical aspects of space flight," said junior mechanical engineer Zachary Dunn.
The audience was thrilled with her many accomplishments and extraordinary space flights.
"It just blows my mind that she experienced something that so few people ever have," said junior Nicholas Goddard. "I was fascinated by her interesting and unique career.... It seems like the most exciting job you can have."
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