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Preguntas frecuentes: La verdadera historia del cuidado de la salud de los astronautas en el espacioBy NASA
NASA Read this story in English here.
La Estación Espacial Internacional es el hogar de la humanidad en el espacio y una estación de investigación que gira en órbita sobre la Tierra a unos 400 kilómetros (250 millas) de altura. La NASA y sus socios internacionales han mantenido una presencia humana continua a bordo de la estación espacial durante más de 24 años, haciendo investigaciones que no es posible realizar en la Tierra.
La gente que vive y trabaja a bordo de este laboratorio en microgravedad también forma parte de las investigaciones que se llevan a cabo, y ellos ayudan a abordar complejos problemas de la salud humana en la Tierra y preparan a la humanidad para viajar más lejos que nunca, incluyendo la Luna y Marte.
Estas son algunas de las preguntas frecuentes sobre cómo la NASA y su equipo de médicos, psicólogos, nutricionistas, científicos del ejercicio y otros profesionales especializados garantizan la salud y la condición física de los astronautas a bordo del laboratorio orbital.
¿Cuánto dura una estadía típica a bordo de la Estación Espacial Internacional?
Una misión típica a la Estación Espacial Internacional dura unos seis meses, pero puede variar en función del calendario de visitas de naves espaciales, las prioridades de la misión y otros factores. Los astronautas de la NASA también han permanecido a bordo de la estación espacial durante períodos de tiempo más largos. Estas se conocen como misiones de larga duración, y misiones anteriores de este tipo han proporcionado a la NASA cuantiosos datos sobre los vuelos espaciales a largo plazo y sus efectos en el cuerpo humano, los cuales la agencia aplica a cualquier misión tripulada.
Durante las misiones de larga duración, el equipo de profesionales médicos de la NASA se centra en optimizar la salud física y conductual de los astronautas y su desempeño, para ayudar a garantizar el éxito de la misión. Estos esfuerzos también ayudan a la NASA a prepararse para futuras misiones humanas a la Luna, Marte y más allá.
¿Cómo mantiene la NASA saludables a los astronautas mientras están en el espacio?
La NASA tiene un equipo de médicos, psicólogos y otros especialistas en tierra que se dedican a dar apoyo a la salud y el bienestar de los astronautas antes, durante y después de cada misión espacial. La NASA asigna a cada tripulación médicos con formación especializada en medicina espacial, denominados médicos de la tripulación de vuelo, una vez que la tripulación ha sido seleccionada para una misión. Los médicos de la tripulación de vuelo supervisan la atención de salud y la capacitación médica mientras los miembros de la tripulación se preparan para su misión, y monitorean la salud de la tripulación antes, durante y después de su misión a la estación espacial.
¿Cómo apoya la NASA el bienestar mental y emocional de sus astronautas mientras están en el espacio?
El equipo de salud conductual de la NASA proporciona servicios de apoyo psicológico determinados de manera individual para los miembros de la tripulación y sus familias durante cada misión. Garantizar que los astronautas puedan mantener su vitalidad en entornos extremos comienza tan pronto se inicia el proceso de selección de astronautas, en el que los candidatos son evaluados en capacidades como su adaptabilidad y resiliencia. Los astronautas reciben una formación exhaustiva que les ayuda a utilizar herramientas y tratamientos de autoevaluación para gestionar su salud conductual. La NASA también ofrece capacitación en destrezas expedicionarias a fin de preparar a cada astronauta para las misiones en capacidades importantes, como los cuidados personales y el cuidado del equipo, las comunicaciones y las destrezas de liderazgo y colaboración.
Para ayudar a mantener la motivación y la moral a bordo de la estación espacial, los astronautas pueden enviar correos electrónicos, hacer llamadas y videoconferencias con sus familiares y amigos, recibir paquetes personales enviados a bordo de las misiones de reabastecimiento de carga de la NASA y sostener teleconferencias con un psicólogo, si es necesario.
¿Cómo afecta la microgravedad a la salud física de los astronautas?
En microgravedad, sin la carga continua de la gravedad de la Tierra, se producen muchos cambios en el cuerpo humano. La NASA entiende muchas de las respuestas del sistema humano al entorno espacial, entre las que se cuentan las adaptaciones a la densidad ósea, la salud muscular, sensitivomotora y cardiovascular, pero todavía queda mucho por aprender. Estos efectos de los vuelos espaciales varían de uno a otro astronauta, por lo que los médicos de la tripulación de vuelo de la NASA monitorean regularmente la salud de cada miembro de la tripulación durante una misión e individualizan las rutinas de dieta y acondicionamiento físico para dar prioridad a la salud y el estado físico durante su permanencia en el espacio.
¿Por qué los astronautas hacen ejercicio en el espacio?
Todos los astronautas a bordo del laboratorio en órbita participan en planes de ejercicio específicamente diseñados y similares a los de la Tierra. Para mantener su fuerza y resistencia, los miembros de la tripulación tienen programadas dos horas y media de ejercicio diario para sustentar su salud muscular, ósea, aeróbica y sensitivomotora. El equipo actual a bordo de la estación espacial incluye el Dispositivo Avanzado de Ejercicio Resistivo (ARED, por sus siglas en inglés), que imita el levantamiento de pesas; una cinta de correr, llamada T2; y el Cicloergómetro con Sistema de Aislamiento y Estabilización de Vibraciones (CEVIS, por sus siglas en inglés) para el ejercicio cardiovascular.
¿Qué función cumplen la alimentación y la nutrición en el apoyo a la salud de los astronautas?
La nutrición desempeña un papel fundamental en el mantenimiento de la salud y el rendimiento óptimo de un astronauta antes, durante y después de su misión. La alimentación también cumple un rol psicosocial durante la prolongada estancia de un astronauta a bordo de la estación espacial. Los expertos que trabajan en el Laboratorio de Sistemas de Alimentación Espacial de la NASA en el Centro Johnson en Houston desarrollan alimentos nutritivos y apetitosos. Los miembros de la tripulación tienen pueden complementar las opciones del menú estándar con sus platos favoritos personales, que pueden brindar un sabor hogareño.
NASA ¿Cómo sabe la NASA si los astronautas están recibiendo los nutrientes adecuados?
Los nutricionistas y científicos de bioquímica nutricional de la NASA determinan los nutrientes (vitaminas, minerales, calorías) que los astronautas necesitan mientras están en el espacio. Este equipo lleva el registro de lo que come cada miembro de la tripulación mediante un programa de seguimiento basado en computadoras de tableta, que cada astronauta completa a diario. Los datos de la aplicación se envían semanalmente a los nutricionistas para controlar la ingesta dietética. El análisis de las muestras de sangre y orina de los astronautas que son tomadas antes, durante y después de las misiones espaciales es una parte crucial del estudio de cómo responden sus cuerpos a las condiciones únicas de los vuelos espaciales. Estas muestras proporcionan información valiosa sobre cómo cada astronauta se adapta a la microgravedad, la radiación y otros factores que afectan la fisiología humana en el espacio.
¿Cómo se entrenan los astronautas para trabajar juntos mientras están en el espacio?
Además de su capacitación técnica, los astronautas participan en la formación de destrezas de trabajo en equipo. Aprenden destrezas eficaces para la vida en grupo y cómo cuidarse y apoyarse unos a otros. Debido a su naturaleza remota y aislada, los vuelos espaciales de larga duración pueden dificultar el trabajo en equipo. Los astronautas deben mantener la conciencia situacional e implementar el programa de vuelo en un entorno en constante cambio. Por lo tanto, la comunicación efectiva es fundamental cuando se trabaja en equipo a bordo de la estación y con diferentes equipos de soporte en tierra. Los astronautas también deben ser capaces de comunicar información compleja a personas con diferente formación profesional. En última instancia, los astronautas son personas que viven y trabajan juntas a bordo de la estación y deben ser capaces de llevar a cabo un trabajo altamente técnico y resolver cualquier problema interpersonal que pueda surgir.
¿Qué sucede si hay una emergencia médica a bordo de la estación espacial?
Todos los astronautas reciben capacitación médica y tienen contacto regular con un equipo de médicos que vigilan de cerca su salud desde tierra. La NASA también mantiene una farmacia bien surtida y un conjunto de equipamientos médicos a bordo de la estación espacial para atender diversas afecciones y lesiones. Si una emergencia médica requiere volver a la Tierra, la tripulación regresará en la nave espacial que fue llevada a bordo para recibir atención médica urgente en tierra.
NASA/Bill Ingalls Puedes obtener más información sobre la Dirección de Salud y Desempeño Humano de la NASA (en inglés) en:
www.nasa.gov/hhp
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By European Space Agency
Image: These two images acquired by Copernicus Sentinel-2 highlight how the mission can help distinguish between clouds and snow. View the full article
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By NASA
Earth Observer Earth Home Earth Observer Home Editor’s Corner Feature Articles Meeting Summaries News Science in the News Calendars In Memoriam More Archives 9 min read
The Earth Observer Editor’s Corner: Fall 2024
On September 18, 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shared the first images of the Western Hemisphere from the GOES-19 satellite, its newest geostationary satellite launched on June 25, 2024 onboard a Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Previously known as GOES-U, the satellite was renamed GOES-19 upon reaching geostationary orbit on July 7, 2024. GOES-19 orbits about 35,785 km above the equator at the same speed the Earth rotates, allowing the satellite to constantly view the same area of the planet and track weather conditions and hazards as they happen. The satellite’s Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument recently captured stunning views of Earth in 16 spectral channels. This data provides researchers information about Earth’s atmosphere, land, and ocean for short-term forecasts and tracking severe weather – see Figure. ABI data is also used for detecting and monitoring environmental hazards, such as wildfires, smoke, dust storms, volcanic eruptions, turbulence, and fog. Data from multiple ABI channels can be combined to create imagery that approximates what the human eye would see from space referred to as GeoColor (see Figure).
Figure. [Left] The GOES-19 images show the contiguous U.S. observed by each of the Advanced Baseline Imager’s (ABI) 16 channels on August 30, 2024, at 6:00 PM UTC. This 16-panel image [progressing left to right, across each row] shows the ABI’s two visible (gray scale), four near-infrared (IR) (gray scale), and 10 infrared channels (warmer brightness temperatures of the IR bands map to warmer colors). Each band’s appearance illustrates how it reflects or absorbs radiation. [Right] The GOES-19 full disk GeoColor image combines data from multiple ABI channels to approximate what the human eye would see from space. Figure Credit: NOAA GOES-19 is the final satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R series and serves as a bridge to a new age of advanced satellite technology. NOAA and NASA are currently developing NOAA’s next generation geostationary satellites, called Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO), to advance operational geostationary Earth observations.
NASA Earth sciences celebrated several satellite milestone anniversaries in 2024. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory (CO) celebrated its 10th anniversary in February while Aura and Orbiting Carbon Observatory–2 (OCO–2) celebrated their 20th and 10th anniversaries, respectively, in July. Here, we focus on GPM and Aura.
The GPM CO launched on February 27, 2024, aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, as a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). To celebrate its 10th anniversary, GPM has been hosting special outreach activities. One example is the GPM 10-in-10 webinar series that began on February 8, 2024. This series of 10 public webinars explores GPM and the story behind the mission, which is aimed at anyone interested in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the synergy of these disciplines to better understand and protect our home planet.
Now over 10 years into the mission, GPM continues to provide important data on precipitation around the globe leading to new scientific discoveries and contributing data to help society, from monitoring storms to supporting weather forecasts and aiding water-borne disease public health alerts.
As an example, GPM made several passes of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall near Siesta Key, FL on October 9, 2024 as a Category 3 storm. As a complement to GPM CO observations, a multi-satellite sensor IMERG animation shows rainfall rates and accumulation over the course of Milton’s history.
To read more about how GPM continues to observe important precipitation characteristics and gain physical insights into precipitation processes, please see the article “GPM Celebrates Ten Years of Observing Precipitation for Science and Society” in The Earth Observer.
The last of NASA’s three EOS Flagships – Aura – marked 20 years in orbit on July 15, 2024, with a celebration on September 18, 2024, at Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC) Recreational Center. The 120 attendees – including about 40 participating virtually – reminisced about Aura’s (originally named EOS-CHEM) tumultuous beginning, from the instrument and Principal Investigator (PI) selections up until the delayed launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base (then Air Force Base) in California. They remembered how Bill Townsend, who was Deputy Director of GSFC at the time, and Ghassem Asrar, who was NASA’s Associate Administrator for Earth Science, spent many hours on site negotiating with the Vandenberg and Boeing launch teams in preparation for launch (after several delays and aborts). Photo 1 shows the Aura mission program scientist, project scientists (PS), and several instrument principal investigators (PI) at Vandenberg shortly before launch.
Photo 1. The Aura (formerly EOS CHEM) mission program scientist, project scientists (PS), and several of instrument principal investigators (PI) at Vandenberg Space Force Base (then Air Force Base) shortly before launch on July 15, 2004. The individuals pictured [left to right] are Reinhold Beer [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)—Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) PI]; John Gille [University of Colorado, Boulder/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)—High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) PI]; Pieternel Levelt [Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (KNMI), Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute—Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) PI]; Ernest Hilsenrath [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)—Aura Deputy Scientist and U.S. OMI Co-PI]; Anne Douglass [GSFC—Aura Deputy PS]; Mark Schoeberl [GSFC—Aura Project Scientist];Joe Waters [NASA/JPL—Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) PI]; P.K. Bhartia [GSFC—OMI Science Team Leader and former Aura Project Scientist]; and Phil DeCola [NASA Headquarters—Aura Program Scientist]. NOTE: Affiliations/titles listed for individuals named were those at the time of launch. Photo Credit: Ernest Hilsenrath At the anniversary event, Bryan Duncan [GSFC—Aura Project Scientist] gave formal opening remarks. Aura’s datasets have given a generation of scientists the most comprehensive global view of gases in Earth’s atmosphere to better understand the chemical and dynamic processes that shape their concentrations. Aura’s objective was to gather data to monitor Earth’s ozone layer, examine trends in global air pollutants, and measure the concentration of atmospheric constituents contributing to climate forcing. To read more about Aura’s incredible 20 years of accomplished air quality and climate science, see the anniversary article “Aura at 20 Years” in The Earth Observer.
To read more about the anniversary event, see Summary of Aura 20th Anniversary Event.
It has been over a year and a half since the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission began collecting data on the height of nearly all water on Earth’s surface, including oceans, lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. During that time, data collected by the satellite has started to improve our understanding of energy in the ocean, yielding insights on surface currents and waves, internal tides, the vertical mixing of seawater, as well as atmosphere–ocean interactions. Notably, SWOT has been measuring the amplitude of solitary internal waves in the ocean. These waves reflect the dynamics of internal tides (tides that occur deep in the ocean rather than at the surface) that can influence biological productivity as well as ocean energy exchanges through their contribution to mixing and general oceanic circulation.
SWOT measurements are also being used to study inland and coastal flooding to inform water management strategies. Earlier this year, researchers used SWOT data to measure the total volume of water during major floods in southern Brazil in April to improve understanding of these events and prepare for the future. In addition, the Water Ministry of Bangladesh is working to incorporate SWOT water elevation maps, along with other near-real time satellite data, into their flood forecasts. Researchers at Alexandria University, Egypt are using SWOT data in the Nile River Basin to improve dam operations. A detailed account of SWOT Significant Events since launch is available online. To learn more about project status and explore the many facets of operational and applied uses of SWOT data, please see The Earth Observer article, “Summary of the 10th SWOT Applications Workshop.”
In September 2024, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem–Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE–PAX) gathered data for the validation of the PACE mission, which launched in February 2024. The operations spanned Southern and Central California and nearby coastal regions, logging 81 flight hours for the NASA ER-2, which operated out of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) in Edwards, CA, and 60 hours for Twin Otter aircraft, which was operated by the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) at the Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, CA) out of Marina Municipal Airport in Marina, CA – see Photo 2.
Photo 2. The Twin Otter aircraft operated out of the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) during the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem–Postlaunch Airborne eXperiment (PACE–PAX) campaign. The image shows the Twin Otter aircraft missing the approach at Marina Airport to check instrument performance on the aircraft against identical instrumentation on an airport control tower. Photo credit: ???TBD ??? Congratulations to PACE-PAX leads Kirk Knobelspiesse [GSFC], Brian Cairns [NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)], and Ivona Cetinić [GSFC/Morgan State University] for successfully executing and planning this campaign. PACE–PAX data will be available in March 2025 via NASA’s Langley Research Center Suborbital Science Data for Atmospheric Composition website and NASA’s SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS).
Photo 3. Clockwise from top left: Mike Ondrusek (NOAA), mission scientist of the R/V Shearwater, waves to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Twin Otter as it samples at low altitude. Bridge fire in San Gabriel mountains, September 10, 2024. Photo by NASA ER-2 pilot Kirt Stallings. Carl Goodwin (JPL) performs calibration reference measurements at Ivanpah Playa, California. Scott Freeman (GSFC) and Harrison Smith (GSFC) deploy instrumentation from the R/V Shearwater in the Santa Barbara Channel. Instrument integration on the NASA ER-2 in preparation for PACE-PAX. San Francisco observed by the NPS Twin Otter as it samples at low altitude over the San Francisco Bay. The R/V Shearwater seen from the NPS Twin Otter. Photo credit: ???TBD ??? Shifting venues, NASA’s BlueFlux Campaign conducted a series of ground-based and airborne fieldwork missions out of the Miami Homestead Air Reserve Base and the Miami Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County, which are adjacent to the eastern border of the Everglades National Park. The full study region – broadly referred to as South Florida – is narrowly defined by the wetland ecosystems that extend from Lake Okeechobee and its Northern estuaries to the saltwater marshland and mangrove forests along the state’s southernmost shore.
Glenn Wolfe [GSFC] and Erin Delaria [GSFC/UMD] organized more than 34 flights across 5 separate fieldwork deployments during the campaign. The data during BlueFlux are intended to contribute to a more robust understanding of how Florida’s coastal ecology fits into the carbon cycle. The article, “NASA’s BlueFlux Campaign Supports Blue Carbon Management in South Florida,” provides additional information about this program, which was made possible by David Lagomasino [East Carolina University], Cheryl Doughty [GSFC/UMD], Lola Fatoyinbo [GSFC], and Peter Raymond [Yale University].
To learn more about PACE-PAX and BlueFlux, see: Updates on NASA Field Campaigns.
Notable recent Science Support Office (SSO) outreach activities include the 2024 Eclipse outreach and engagement efforts on April 7, 2024, in Kerrville, TX and Cleveland, OH. The two locations are among a dozen that NASA set up along path of totality. To read about the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse through the eyes of NASA outreach and engagement activities, please see The Earth Observer feature article, “Looking Back on Looking Up: The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse.”
The SSO also supported the United Nations (UN) Summit of the Future event and the 79th General Assembly High Level week, September 19–27, 2024 at UN Headquarters (HQ) in New York City, NY. SSO supported the NASA Sea Level Change Team (N-SLCT) during the High-level Meeting on Sea-Level Rise by having Hyperwall content available for the release of the new Pacific Flooding Analysis Tool. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson visited the Hyperwall on September 23 with Aarti Holla-Maini [UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)—Director]. Karen St. Germain [NASA HQ—Director of the Earth Science Division], Julie Robinson [NASA HQ—Deputy Director of the Earth Science Division], Kate Calvin [NASA HQ—NASA Chief Scientist], Lesley Ott [GSFC— Climate Scientist], and Anjali Tripathi [NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)—Astrophysicist] talked with delegates and members about NASA Science and accessed NASA global datasets. Photos from the event are available at the SSO Flickr Page.
Looking ahead, the SSO is once again leading the planning and logistics for the NASA exhibit at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, which will be held December 9–13, 2024 in Washington, DC. Nearly 40 NASA projects and missions will have hands-on activities within the perimeter of the NASA Science exhibit, from the James Webb Space Telescope to the Airborne Science Fleet. The NASA Hyperwall, a video wall used for visual-forward science storytelling, will host approximately 50 Hyperwall stories and presentations throughout the meeting, including presentations delivered by the 2024 winners of the NASA-funded AGU Michael H. Freilich Student Visualization Competition. The exhibit will also feature roughly 40 tech demonstrations throughout the week, covering a wide range of hands-on introductions to everything from the capabilities of the OpenSpace data visualization software to the scientific applications of augmented reality. Please be sure to stop by the NASA exhibit when you are at AGU.
Steve Platnick
EOS Senior Project Scientist
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Last Updated Nov 14, 2024 Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
Today, the European Space Agency signed six contracts that will help position Greece as a key player in the field of Earth observation.
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By NASA
Name: Dr. Inia Soto Ramos
Title and Formal Job Classification: Associate Research Scientist
Organization: Ocean Ecology Laboratory (Code 616) via Morgan State University and GESTAR II cooperative agreement
Dr. Inia Soto Ramos is an associate research scientist with NASA’s PACE — the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission — at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.Photo courtesy of Inia Soto Ramos What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?
I am currently co-leading the validation efforts for PACE, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission. I am also part of NASA’s SeaBASS (SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System) team, which is responsible for archiving, distributing, and managing field data used for validation and development of satellite ocean color data products. It has been exciting to be a part of a satellite mission, to see it being built, tested and launched. And now, be able to validate the data and in the near future, use the data to do science.
What is your educational background?
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, and I have a master’s and Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of South Florida.
How did you get your foot in the door at NASA?
While I was a student at the University of Puerto Rico, I saw a flyer for a program called PaSCoR (Partnership for Spatial and Computational Research). It was a partnership between universities, NASA and other institutions with the intent to train students in remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems. Although, this program was targeted mainly for engineers, I decided to apply. That took me to the first remote sensing classes I had taken. That’s how I started learning that you can study the ocean from space. I had no idea that could be done. That program planted the curiosity about satellite oceanography and gave me the tools to go into graduate school in that field.
How did you first gain exposure to oceanography and diving?
I am from Puerto Rico and grew up all the way in the mountains. There wasn’t much of a connection to the ocean for me, only a few trips to the beach. I remember my dad taking me to a small beach called La Poza del Obispo in Arecibo and he held me while I used a small snorkel underwater. That was the first connection I had with marine life. I started diving sometime when I was about 18 years old, and I remember saying, “This is the most amazing thing ever,” and that’s when I decided I needed to pursue a life in that field.
What interested you in phytoplankton as a specialty?
Initially, I was curious about harmful algal blooms in the West Florida Shelf, which I studied when I moved to Florida to do my grad studies. I learned that the blooms can produce neurotoxins, and those can affect humans in different ways. So, if you have asthma, they can make you feel worse. I remember developing asthma that night after going to the beach and having go to the ER. I didn’t see the connection at the time until I learned about these events and how toxins can get in the air. It felt like something important that I could study to help people or do something that’s meaningful. It’s amazing that we can see something so tiny from space and study them.
How does your identity, being a Latina, show up at NASA?
This is kind of a dream come true. It is so amazing to be able to fulfill that dream. I came from a small town. There appeared to me no chances to come all the way to NASA. So, having this opportunity is exciting, and bringing it back to my community and saying, “Hey, anyone can actually do it.” One of the advantages is that you speak a different language, so you can make connections with different countries.
What do you look forward to in the future? What are some of your goals?
I would love to keep growing in my field. As a mother, sometimes is hard to visualize where I want to be in the future, so I find it best to focus on the present. My priority right now is my family, however in the future I would love to engage in a job in which I can transfer my knowledge and love to the oceans to future generations; and be more involved in the community.
When you think of your village and growing up in Puerto Rico, what is a memory you have that makes you smile?
I still remember going to collect coffee with my mom and dad. My dad had a small basket for me that I would fill with only the most beautiful red grains of coffee. I was around 5 years old, and I remember the toys that my mom would take, and they’d settle me under the coffee trees. I still go to Puerto Rico, and I am fascinated when I see the coffee trees; it reminds me of my childhood.
What advice would you give to other little girls who might not think NASA is a dream they can achieve?
I was the little girl with the dream of being a scientist at NASA, and then I was a teenager, an adult, and a mother, all with the same dream! It took me several decades and many life stages to get here. Many times, along my path, I thought of giving up. Others, I thought I was completely off track and I would never fulfill my dream. I had limited resources while growing up. There were no fancy swimming or piano classes, but I had amazing teachers and mentors who guided me along the way. So, no matter how young or old you are, you can still fulfill that dream. The key to success is to know where you want to go, surround yourself with people that believe in you, and if you fall, just shake it off and try again!
By Alexa Figueroa
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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Last Updated Nov 12, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
People of Goddard Earth Goddard Space Flight Center PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) People of NASA SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) View the full article
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