Katya Echazarreta made history as the first Mexican-born American woman to earn a ticket to space.
The 27-year-old born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico says it was a dream come true years in the making.
“Even before I could speak I was making drawings or pointing out stars and pointing out different space related things. It's just something I have loved,” Echazarreta said.
She’s made history as the first Mexican-born American woman to earn a ticket to space.
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Echazarreta, an electrical engineer and now civilian astronaut was an intern at the jet propulsion lab and now works for NASA.
“It was always my goal to eventually become a nasa engineer,” Echazarreta.
But she got the thrill of a lifetime when she was selected as one of six civilians to travel into space, compliments of billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Company.
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It was a bumpy ride to get to this point.
“My mom was cleaning houses, we were walking dogs,” Echazarreta said.
Echazarreta, a former McDonald’s crew member, credits her time working at Mcdonalds with giving her the life skills she needed to achieve her dream when others didn’t believe in her.
“I went in there, I interviewed on the spot and I walked out with my very first job which really set the course for everything I have accomplished since then,” Echazarreta said.
And she’s not done dreaming.
“Definitely I think that for me another personal goal is to eventually get to the moon, so that’s a goal that I have for my future, hopefully in the near future,” Echazarreta said.
