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Franklin Ramon Chang-Díaz (born April 5, 1950, San José, Costa Rica) [1] is an American mechanical engineer, physicist, and former NASA astronaut. He is the sole founder and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company [2] as well as a member of the Cummins' board of directors. [3] He became an American citizen in 1977. [4]
STS-61-C's seven-person crew included the first Costa Rican-born astronaut, Franklin Chang-Díaz, the second African-American shuttle pilot, Charles Bolden, and the second sitting politician to fly in space, Rep. Bill Nelson (D-FL). Both Bolden and Nelson would also later go on to become Administrators of NASA.
Of this group, Franklin Chang-Diaz would become the first Hispanic-American in space, Michael Smith would perish in the Challenger disaster, and John Blaha would fly aboard the Mir space station. Both Jerry Ross and Chang-Diaz currently jointly hold the record of number of crewed spaceflights flown, at seven.
First astronaut spouse selected as an astronaut: William Fisher (August 27, 1985, STS-51-I; married to Anna Fisher, Group 8 astronaut) [7] In addition, Chang-Diaz and Ross share the world record for the most spaceflights, with seven each. [8] Bolden also became the second astronaut to serve as NASA Administrator, appointed in July 2009. [9]
Some parents tell their children the sky is the limit, but that wouldn't have been nearly enough for Franklin Chang-Díaz.The Costa Rican-American physicist and mechanical engineer is a veteran of ...
First person from Latin America to fly in space. First person of African descent in space. First Cuban in space. Soyuz 38 (September 18, 1980) 2 Rodolfo Neri Vela February 19, 1952 Mexico: First Mexican in space. STS-61-B (November 26, 1985) 3 Franklin Chang-Diaz April 5, 1950 United States ( Costa Rica) First Costa Rican astronaut
Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, who were part of the first Apollo lunar orbital mission (Nasa/AFP/Getty Images) That same year, he married his high school ...
The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5 , which ...