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Ellen Ochoa's Extraordinary NASA Career

Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, STS-110 flight engineer, dons a training version of the full-pressure launch and entry suit prior to a training session at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). Suit technician Andre Denard assists Ochoa. STS-110 took place in April, 2002 and was the 13th shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station (ISS). NASA hide caption

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NASA

Short Wave

Ellen Ochoa's Extraordinary NASA Career

Ellen Ochoa didn't get picked the first time she applied to become an astronaut--nor the second. But she eventually went to space four times. In this excerpt from the podcast Wisdom from the Top, host Guy Raz talks to Ochoa about how she became an astronaut and her career at NASA. Here is a link to the entire interview, in which they cover a lot of ground--from her love of calculus and physics to shaping NASA culture: https://www.npr.org/2021/12/07/1062084978/nasa-ellen-ochoa

Ellen Ochoa's Extraordinary NASA Career

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'Every Day Is A Good Day When You're Floating': Anne McClain Talks Life In Space

NASA astronaut Anne McClain, attends her final exam at the Gagarin Cosmonauts' Training Centre outside Moscow on Nov. 14, 2018. STR/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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STR/AFP/Getty Images

Space

'Every Day Is A Good Day When You're Floating': Anne McClain Talks Life In Space

Kindergartners from Georgetown Day School in Washington D.C., help NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro field questions to McClain, who's an astronaut serving on the International Space Station.

'Every Day Is A Good Day When You're Floating': Anne McClain Talks Life In Space

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This Pilot Is Headed To Space With Or Without NASA

Wally Funk is one of the Mercury 13, a group of women who trained to be astronauts in the early 1960s. Courtesy of Wally Funk hide caption

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Courtesy of Wally Funk

StoryCorps

This Pilot Is Headed To Space With Or Without NASA

In 1961, Wally Funk trained to be an astronaut. But she never got to go to space. Fifty years on, she still dreams of flying among the stars.

This Pilot Is Headed To Space With Or Without NASA

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