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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsShe came to the U.S. with only $300 and worked housekeeping jobs to pay for school. Now she's a...
She came to the U.S. with only $300 and worked housekeeping jobs to pay for school. Now she's a flight director for NASA's Mars Perseverance.
When NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars last week, aerospace engineer Diana Trujillo, who is a flight director on the mission, said in an interview with CBS News that it took her some time to process that it had arrived on the red planet.
"I was very much on the mindset of 'What's happening?'" she said. Then as pictures and videos from Perseverance started to beam back, it became real.
"Are we safe? I think that watching the image was when I actually processed that we had actually landed," she added.
The landing only marked the beginning of Perseverance's stop on Mars, but playing a leadership role in the historic mission to find life there was decades in the making for Trujillo. Her dreams of reaching space and wanting to understand the universe came as a young person in Cali, Colombia. Her parents were divorcing and as a 17-year-old, she decided to go to the United States, arriving with only $300 and not speaking any English. She worked housekeeping jobs to pay for her studies and later joined NASA in 2007.
Trujillo is now part of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and worked on the team that created the robotic arm that will collect rock samples on Mars. "Understanding if we're alone in the universe is the ultimate question," she said. "I hope that within the one year of surface operations on Mars, we can answer that question soon."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/diana-trujillo-nasa-mars-rover-perseverance/
When NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars last week, aerospace engineer Diana Trujillo, who is a flight director on the mission, said in an interview with CBS News that it took her some time to process that it had arrived on the red planet.
"I was very much on the mindset of 'What's happening?'" she said. Then as pictures and videos from Perseverance started to beam back, it became real.
"Are we safe? I think that watching the image was when I actually processed that we had actually landed," she added.
The landing only marked the beginning of Perseverance's stop on Mars, but playing a leadership role in the historic mission to find life there was decades in the making for Trujillo. Her dreams of reaching space and wanting to understand the universe came as a young person in Cali, Colombia. Her parents were divorcing and as a 17-year-old, she decided to go to the United States, arriving with only $300 and not speaking any English. She worked housekeeping jobs to pay for her studies and later joined NASA in 2007.
Trujillo is now part of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and worked on the team that created the robotic arm that will collect rock samples on Mars. "Understanding if we're alone in the universe is the ultimate question," she said. "I hope that within the one year of surface operations on Mars, we can answer that question soon."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/diana-trujillo-nasa-mars-rover-perseverance/
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She came to the U.S. with only $300 and worked housekeeping jobs to pay for school. Now she's a... (Original Post)
demmiblue
Feb 2021
OP
Hotler
(11,409 posts)1. ....
DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)2. K&R
oldsoftie
(12,514 posts)4. And THIS shows how the American Dream works! Great story. nt
usaf-vet
(6,178 posts)5. How many of these potential engineers did tRump and his gang of racist morons STOP at our.....
..... southern border? Potential engineers, doctors, scientists, nurses, teachers, and yes, congress members. What they did was make more enemies who will remember who turned them away. The GOP the party of racists.
Hekate
(90,616 posts)6. Women Scientists Rock
North Shore Chicago
(3,311 posts)7. She is amazing!
Women rock and rule!!
demmiblue
(36,833 posts)8. Musical interlude: Grace Potter in collab w/NASA Johnson Space Center
BobTheSubgenius
(11,562 posts)9. "Perseverance" is a great name for the mission, at least for her.
I'm sure there was a ton of perseverance shown by everyone, but certainly none more than Ms Trujillo. An American success story, or what?
AllaN01Bear
(18,101 posts)10. eggscllent. made me smile .
LittleGirl
(8,282 posts)11. Loved this! Tweeted! nt
Blue Owl
(50,325 posts)12. K&R
crickets
(25,959 posts)13. I love seeing success stories like this. Yay! Well done. nt