Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Since 2024, Dina Contella has served as International Space Station (ISS) deputy program manager at NASA. Her considerable responsibilities, which are handled here on Earth, involve helping with the day-to-day management and overall operations of that habitable satellite and microgravity laboratory. ISS, which resides in low Earth orbit (LEO), has the distinction of being both... Continue Reading →
Miguel Ángel Rosales Izás, an architect who has specialized in the design of bridges, was born in Guatemala City (the capital of the eponymous Central American country) in 1961. He was oldest of the four sons of Antonio Rosales and Lidia Izás. In 1984, Miguel A. Rosales earned a degree in architecture from Francisco... Continue Reading →
Lieutenant Commander Marilyn Melendez Dykman of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) was the first Hispanic American woman to become an aviator in that uniformed service. She received her wings of gold for this airborne promotion on May 24, 1991. Dykman’s trailblazing achievement has helped pave the way in the years since for similar opportunities for... Continue Reading →
Rafael Celestino Benítez was born on March 9, 1917, in the town of Juncos in east-central part of Puerto Rico. After completing his studies at both George Washington High School and the Army Navy Preparatory School in New York City, Benítez was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated from this institution in 1939... Continue Reading →
Cycling champion Antonio “Tony” Cruz, who is of Mexican descent, was born in Long Beach California, on October 31, 1971. He developed a strong love for bicycles early on in life. Two of Cruz’s biggest influences in this regard were his father and uncle, both of whom were avid cyclists. Cruz competed in his first... Continue Reading →
Olga D. González-Sanabria, who made notable professional contributions during more than three decades of service at NASA, was born in southeastern Puerto Rico’s town and municipality of Patillas. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering. González-Sanabria went to pursue her graduate studies at... Continue Reading →
Luis Ramón de Florez, who earned renown as a U.S. Navy aviator and officer, was born in New York City on March 4, 1889. His father Raphael V. de Florez was Spanish and his mother Marie Stephanie (Bernard) de Florez was French. Luis Ramón de Florez attended preparatory schools in both Paris, France, and the... Continue Reading →
Trailblazing airline pilot Linda Pauwels was born Linda Pfeiffer in San Pedro, a city in Argentina’s Province of Buenos Aires, in 1963. She was the daughter of Mabel Gaspard Pfeiffer, a native Argentinian who worked as a schoolteacher; and Jerzy “Jorge” Pfeiffer, a Polish-born naturalized Argentine citizen. Pauwels was only six years old when her... Continue Reading →
Elio Morillo, an aerospace engineer, was born in Ecuador. His interest in becoming an engineer took shape after he and his mother immigrated to New York City. Morillo found himself especially mesmerized in his younger years by TV footage of jets, spacecraft, and other types of flight technology. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in mechanical... Continue Reading →
José Moreno Hernández was born on August 7, 1962, in the community of French Camp in California. His family was originally from the municipality of La Piedad in western Mexico’s state of Michoacán. During much of his childhood, as a matter of fact, Hernández and his family routinely spent half the year in the United... Continue Reading →
