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Montage of photos of 8 women inventors

Top row: Marion O'Brien Donovan, Tara Astigarraga, Madison Maxey, Marilyn Hamilton. Bottom row: Michelle Khine, Marjorie Stewart Joyner, Alexis Lewis, Ellen Ochoa

Official astronaut portrait photo

Ellen Ochoa

March 22, 2021 by Joyce Bedi

Throughout American history, women with diverse backgrounds and interests created inventions that change our lives every day.

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"I've seen the uplifting impact of diversity in STEM, and of women in leadership roles."

Ellen Ochoa

inventors-ochoa-ellen-9367735676-5f1eb25dac-o-nasa-750-inline-edit.jpg

Ochoa in plane cockpit

Ellen Ochoa training at Vance Air Force Base, Houston, 1993. Courtesy of NASA

Ellen Ochoa studied physics in college and played the flute in the marching band. She earned a PhD in electrical engineering, got a job at NASA, and dreamed of going to space. Although she was not selected for the astronaut program on her first try, she didn’t give up, and became an astronaut in 1991. When she flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1993, she was the first Latina in space—and she took her flute with her. She went to space three more times, became the director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and applied her training to inventing devices that help scientists analyze images from space.

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Ochoa looking out space station window

Ochoa on the International Space Station, 2002. Courtesy of NASA 


Source for quote above: “Ellen Ochoa Speaking Bio and Videos: The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau,” https://www.thelavinagency.com/speakers/ellen-ochoa.

  • Continue To Amy Prieto
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  • Introduction
  • Exhibitions
  • Tara Astigarraga
  • Patricia Bath
  • Ayah Bdeir
  • Cynthia Breazeal
  • Theresa Dankovich
  • Marion O’Brien Donovan
  • Marilyn Hamilton
  • Grace Hopper
  • Marjorie Stewart Joyner
  • Michelle Khine
  • Margaret Knight
  • Stephanie Kwolek
  • Alexis Lewis
  • Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, & Polly Palmer Smith
  • Madison Maxey
  • Ellen Ochoa
  • Amy Prieto
  • Sharon Rogone
  • Charlotte Cramer Sachs
  • Laura Shepherd
  • Kavita Shukla
  • Mária Telkes
  • Madam C. J. Walker
  • Cindy Whitehead
  • Woman’s Building, 1893 World’s Fair

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