
What once was a place that only the imagination could reach, space has taken on a much more concrete reality for Americans. The Space Age is underway, and there is much work to be done in the STEM fields to bring space closer to home. As time goes on, more challenges are discovered, and as varied as those challenges are, so too are the people that take on those challenges. People from all places and backgrounds come together in the United States to overcome obstacles and open new possibilities to future generations.
The United States is not the only country to have a well developed space program but many people from other countries come to the United States to gain access to the technologies only available here. It is this openness to accepting potential from anywhere in the world that separates the United States from anywhere else. In reverence to the “melting pot” that makes up our society, Hispanic Heritage month makes a point to celebrate those who have Hispanic heritage and what they have contributed, large or small.
Space is hostile and requires the ultimate fortitude, intelligence, discipline, and strength in a person in order to withstand the difficulties. It is a privilege and an honor to be taken into space. The dangerous environment of space is obvious but the importance of the work that astronauts do is even more significant. Without such brave souls, conducting research in the most remote environments, we would know very little about ourselves, where we are in the universe, and where we are going. During Hispanic Heritage month, we recognize one such person: Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.

Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz is a remarkable individual yet his story seems so ordinary. He was born in Costa Rica in 1950 where he would spend the first 17 years of his life. He then left his home country of Costa Rica in his pursuit of his American Dream to be an astronaut. Dr. Chang-Diaz recalls in an interview his fascination with space and science as a child. He makes an unexpected note about his time on the space shuttle Columbia as he compares it to the feeling he remembers as a kid, pretending that his decorated cardboard box was a spacecraft. He says that the feeling of being on the shuttle and being in the box was the same feeling. In essence, then, Dr. Chang-Diaz has always been an astronaut, even as a child. It was his love for exploration and science that drove him to mature from that little cardboard box into the space shuttle Columbia.
Of course, Dr. Chang-Diaz had to make some adjustments when he moved from Costa Rica to the United States. As he describes in a brief interview, “I had to learn the language. I didn’t speak English. Usually, there is not enough money… dealing with discrimination, some level of it”. However he did not let any of that stop him from achieving his dream. Dr. Chang-Diaz got educated in the STEM fields by earning a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and a Doctorate in Applied Plasma Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977. After having proved himself by doing great work (like creating new plasma engines), NASA recruited him to become an astronaut in 1980. Dr. Chang-Diaz would go on to be a part of no less than 7 different missions to space, performing various tasks like deploying the Galileo spacecraft, conducting astrophysics experiments, and various repairs to the International Space Station. Today, Dr. Chang-Diaz is the CEO of Ad Astra which leads in plasma engine technology and design.

It is not easy to be an astronaut. That is why we only send the very best and brightest people into space. Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz is one of the very few Latinos ever to be put into space. A very humble man, he continues to work in the STEM fields, no longer as an astronaut, but instead an entrepreneur and leader for future engineers and physicists. He is a prime example that talent and genius can be found anywhere in the world. Let him be a beacon of inspiration for any Latinos/Latinas that have dreams to be an astronaut or engineer. If a small boy from Costa Rica can make his dreams come true, then so can you.
Written By: Alexander Jones