Dr. Ellen Ochoa set her sights on space and eventually became the first Hispanic female astronaut. Explain how Dr. Ochoa's achievements are a story of motivation and determination. Use facts and details from the Article in your response. Red Bank, NJ (Achieve3000, June 26, 2020). If you were spending a week in space and could only bring a few personal belongings up with you, what would you choose? For her first mission on a NASA space shuttle, Dr. Ellen Ochoa wasn't leaving Earth without her flute.

Growing up in California, Dr. Ochoa excelled at playing the flute and went to college to study classical music. But she couldn't shake her fascination with math that had started with a high school calculus class. So she decided to pursue a degree in physics instead. Later, as a graduate student at Stanford University, she was on her way to becoming a pioneer in optical engineering. That is, until a fellow Stanford science graduate, Dr. Sally Ride, became the first American woman to go into space in 1983.

Suddenly Dr. Ochoa's horizons totally changed.

Seeing a female astronaut with such a similar background was a "wow" moment for Dr. Ochoa. She realized that maybe she could do research in space, too. She eagerly applied to NASA's space shuttle astronaut program…but didn't get in!

Dr. Ochoa didn't see this rejection as a dead end. Instead, she made up her mind to become a better candidate. She spent the next few years gaining new skills, including getting a pilot's license and working as an engineer at NASA. She hoped these experiences might boost her chances for success the next time she applied to the astronaut program. And she was right.

In 1990, Dr. Ochoa was accepted into NASA's astronaut program. After three years of training, she flew on her first mission aboard NASA's space shuttle in 1993. She was the world's first Hispanic female astronaut.

As her unique laboratory zoomed around Earth nearly 200 miles (322 kilometers) above the clouds, Dr. Ochoa monitored the planet's ozone layer with high-tech optical devices. It was a perfect match for her skills. Nine years later, on the Atlantis space shuttle, Dr. Ochoa flew her fourth and final mission. She and the rest of the crew attached a gigantic beam to the International Space Station to prepare it for future expansion.

By the end of that final spaceflight in 2002, this hardworking astronaut had logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit altogether, finding only 15 minutes of time to play her beloved flute. On one mission, she gave a brief recital that turned into a funny physics lesson in the shuttle's weightless environment. Every breath she blew through the flute pushed her backward. She had to hook her feet to the floor!

Jovial moments aside, Dr. Ochoa never lost focus of her job in orbit. She and the crew worked together for a communal purpose. The teamwork she experienced in space inspired her decision to support and later lead crewed missions from the ground. Eventually, she became director of NASA's Johnson Space Center, the first Hispanic person to ever serve in this role.

A trailblazer and role model, Dr. Ochoa says she feels honored to have six schools named after her and enjoys talking to students about her out-of-this-world career. She tells them that being motivated is the key to success, teamwork is very important, and they should never stop learning. In 2015, she received NASA's highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal. Two years later, she was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Since retiring from NASA in 2018, she has kept busy as the vice chair of the National Science Board—but she still finds time to play her flute.