Ellen Ochoa was born in Los Angeles, California on May 10 of 1958. Her Hispanic roots came from her dad, whose parents were Mexican. She has a son. Her mother’s name is Rosanne Ochoa who resides in La Mesa or Los Angeles.

       Ellen Ochoa was the first Hispanic woman ever to be accepted into the NASA space shuttle program. Her first shuttle mission also came sooner than most astronauts. She had been selected into the space program in 1991 by NASA and in 1993 went on her fist mission.

       Ellen Ochoa plays the flute, she enjoys volleyball and bicycling. She is a member  of the Optical Society of America (OSA), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honor societies. She has numerous awards and medals like from NASA.

       She also invented “three optical devices, systems that can inspect objects, recognize objects, and minimize distortions on images taken of objects”. Ellen  helped develop the International Space Station, she operate a robot that was used to transfer clothing, computers and medical equipment.

                        

SOURCE: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/hispanic/ochoatscript.htm