Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr., who made notable contributions as both a U.S. Navy aviator and NASA astronaut, died at his home in the city of San Marcos, California. He was 88. Gordon had been born in Seattle on October 5, 1929. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1951 with a B.S. in... 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 →
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 →
For more than two decades now, systems engineer Josephine Santiago-Bond has made significant contributions to NASA in the development of its space exploration technologies. She was born to Filipino parents who were pursuing their doctorate studies in the United States at the time. When she was just a few months old, Josephine -- along with... Continue Reading →
Laurel van der Wal was a mechanical and aeronautical engineer who made key contributions to the research of both human space flight and more earthbound transportation challenges. She was born to Lillian and Richard van der Wal in San Francisco on September 22, 1924. Laurel van der Wal was only 15 when she graduated from... 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 →
As a senior astronautical engineer at NASA, Irma Aracely Quispe Neira (widely known as Aracely Quispe) has made several noteworthy contributions to space and flight operations on behalf of that agency. Her accomplishments to date include becoming the first woman of Latin American descent to help oversee and lead three separate NASA missions. These major... Continue Reading →
On April 19, 2021, the autonomous NASA helicopter Ingenuity (nicknamed Ginny) lifted off the surface of Mars for what turned out to be a flight of 39.1 seconds. While decidedly brief, this ascent was also historic because it made Ingenuity the first aircraft to carry out a powered, controlled extra-terrestrial flight. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory... Continue Reading →
April 26, 1977 Samantha Cristoforetti, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, was born in the major Italian city of Milan. She grew up in Malé, a commune (municipality) that is likewise located in the northern region of Italy. Cristoforetti traveled to the United States at the age of 18 as an exchange student in the... Continue Reading →
Kayla Barron, whose passion for exploration has motivated her to both travel beneath the sea and fly into space, was born on September 19, 1987, in the city of Pocatello, Idaho. Her family eventually moved from the Gem State to the city of Richland, Washington. After graduating from Richland High School in 2006, Barron entered... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 