"We are involved in technology development for, you know, missions that we hope to plan that would ta..." — Ellen Ochoa

Usually, girls weren't encouraged to go to college and major in math and science. My high school calculus teacher, Ms. Paz Jensen, made math appealing and motivated me to continue studying it in college.

Astronauts are very professional and when they're preparing for launch, they prepare for it as the most serious endeavor of our lives.

I hope to continue to inspire our nation's youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math so they, too, may reach for the stars.

Throughout Johnson Space Center's history, contributions to STEM innovation and discoveries has been both through new technologies developed to advance human spaceflight and through educating, inspiring, and hiring students in STEM fields.