The first Spanish woman in space has now become the second female astronaut to be awarded the United States’ highest honor.
Ellen Ochoa, who later directed NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a ceremony held at the White House on Friday, May 3. Ochoa became the 10th astronaut to receive the medal.
“The American dream for most is to succeed in whatever endeavor you choose here on Earth. Dr. Ellen Ochoa’s dream was in the sky,” said President Joe Biden, who presided over the ceremony. “Ellen was the first Spanish woman in space, ushering in a whole new era of space exploration and showing what reaching for the stars means to every generation.”
According to the White House, individuals selected for the Presidential Medal of Freedom have contributed significantly to the welfare, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other social, public, or private endeavors.
“Wow, what an unexpected and surprising honor!” said Ochoa when she first heard she would be honored, according to a statement released by NASA. “I am so grateful to all of my wonderful NASA colleagues who shared my career journey with me.”
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Ochoa was working as a research engineer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California when he was selected for the agency’s 13th group of astronauts in 1990. He flew on four space shuttle missions between 1993 and 2002, logging more than 40 days in Earth orbit.
During Ochoa’s first flight, STS-56, he used the space shuttle’s robotic arm to deploy and return a satellite observing the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. The mission was dedicated to collecting data on the relationship between the sun’s energy output and Earth’s atmosphere and how these factors affect the planet’s ozone layer.
On his next three missions, STS-66, STS-96, and STS-110, Ochoa continued to assist in the study of Earth’s atmosphere; He was one of the first astronauts to enter the International Space Station; and later helped install a section of the station’s backbone girder.
Ochoa became the 18th American woman launched into space and the 22nd worldwide. According to the Space Explorers Association’s Space Explorer Registry, she was the 295th person to leave Earth’s atmosphere and the 288th person to enter orbit.
In 2013, Ochoa was named the 11th administrator of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, home to mission control and the U.S. astronaut corps. Ochoa, only the second woman to hold the post, served for five years; During this time, she oversaw the selection of the first crews to launch commercial spacecraft and the first year-long mission to the International Space Station.
In addition to the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Ochoa has also been recognized with NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, for his role in the US space program, and was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida in 2017. Schools today bear his name in California, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.
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Past recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom include John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth; Apollo 11 moon landing team consisting of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins; Apollo 13 crew members James Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert; and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
Other past NASA honorees include the Apollo 13 mission operations team (including astronaut Edgar Mitchell), “Hidden Figures” mathematician Katherine Johnson and computer programmer Margaret Hamilton, who led the MIT software engineering team that developed the guidance system for the Apollo spacecraft.
Ochoa was honored Friday along with 18 Medal of Freedom recipients, including former Vice President Al Gore, Senators Elizabeth Dole, John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, journalist Phil Donahue and actress Michelle Yeoh.
Among those recognized by Biden was Jane Rigby, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland who serves as senior project scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope.
“Dr. Rigby unlocks the secrets of the galaxy, sparking a sense of wonder deep within our souls,” Biden said.
He worked on the development of the orbiting observatory for many years and then led the characterization of Webb’s science performance after its deployment to deep space in 2022.
“Webb has become a symbol not only of technical excellence and scientific discovery, but also of how much humanity can achieve when we all work together,” Rigby said in a statement released by NASA. “I am honored and grateful to lead the amazing Webb team.”
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