WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.880 --> 00:00:10.000 Eight seven six five for engine ignission two one zero. 2 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:13.080 Relate and lift off. 3 00:00:14.200 --> 00:00:18.280 As the countdowns Mars continues the perseverance of humanity launching 4 00:00:18.280 --> 00:00:21.279 the next generation of robotic explorers to the Red Planet. 5 00:00:26.360 --> 00:00:30.880 From Utro Media, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Jojosa. Today 6 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:33.240 we meet some of the Latinos working on the most 7 00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:45.240 recent and historic mission to Mars. It's been about forty 8 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:50.159 five years since the first US spacecraft landed safely on Mars. 9 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:53.519 Since then, there have been several other missions to the 10 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:57.000 Red planet, each one building off of the other and 11 00:00:57.080 --> 00:00:59.120 getting us to where we are today. 12 00:01:01.400 --> 00:01:04.479 After the Rover Curiosity landed on Mars eight years ago, 13 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:08.640 it confirmed the Red planet once could have supported life. 14 00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:11.920 Perseverance will try to find definitive proof. 15 00:01:12.520 --> 00:01:14.040 That's how confirmed. 16 00:01:13.800 --> 00:01:17.959 Perseverance take away on the Sea of Mars. 17 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:22.640 The Rover left Earth last July and traveled almost three 18 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:27.200 hundred million miles across space to its destination, the Red Planet. 19 00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:30.800 And on today's episode, you're going to hear from some 20 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:35.280 of the Latinos and Latinas whose own perseverance made this 21 00:01:35.440 --> 00:01:36.399 mission possible. 22 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:39.360 People like the Ana Trujiro the. 23 00:01:39.360 --> 00:01:44.080 Night before always were empty and I am setting up 24 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.520 thinking about, you know, having the biggest night of my career. 25 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:51.880 On the next morning, on getting ready. 26 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:55.160 For it, Gristina Ernandez, I woke up. 27 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.560 Super early because I could not sleep at all in 28 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:03.280 the anticipation of landing on Mars. I was one of 29 00:02:03.320 --> 00:02:06.320 the people who was actually supporting remotely from home. So 30 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:10.000 because of the pandemic, a large majority of our team 31 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:12.200 is actually working remotely. 32 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:13.680 Elio Morigo. 33 00:02:14.440 --> 00:02:17.600 The moment we landed, we were just you know, throwing 34 00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:21.840 our arms up. It was super emotional because after so 35 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:25.280 many years, our baby was finally on the surface of Mars, 36 00:02:25.320 --> 00:02:27.360 ready to get on with the science mission. 37 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:33.040 And Alejandro Miguel San Martin, who went viral after his 38 00:02:33.160 --> 00:02:37.040 daughter shared with the world Alejandro's reaction to the moment 39 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:39.760 when Perseverance landed on Mars. 40 00:02:45.480 --> 00:02:52.360 Pretty table. Being at home, my wife next to me, 41 00:02:52.720 --> 00:02:55.240 I was more free to actually be part of the 42 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:59.280 experience than in the previous for landings that I was 43 00:02:59.320 --> 00:03:02.680 in the control room in a more ridges settings, because 44 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:05.480 you're doing a job, and so I think that's also 45 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:09.960 play a role in my being able to celebrate the 46 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.160 great success of Perseverance landing. 47 00:03:17.720 --> 00:03:22.080 Year's producer Reinaldo Leo Junior, bringing us their stories. 48 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:28.960 Deanna tru Hill was working late at NASA's JPL Jet 49 00:03:29.040 --> 00:03:34.160 Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the night before the Perseverance 50 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.880 rover would finally touch down on the surface of Mars. 51 00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:41.480 That night, I think I was not only reflecting on that, 52 00:03:41.640 --> 00:03:46.760 reflecting Alsoman family and understanding how far we have gotten 53 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:51.200 us humanity, and recognizing that everybody is going to get 54 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:54.000 to see what we're about to do on Mars. 55 00:03:54.600 --> 00:03:57.840 As flight director for the rover, Deanna knew that in 56 00:03:58.040 --> 00:04:00.800 just a couple of hours should be a partart of history. 57 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:06.240 I was setting up and getting ready for the first 58 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:09.880 Spanish language landing broadcast and NASA has done for a 59 00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:19.560 planetary mission Perseverance. 60 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.200 Deanna would lead this broadcast and give a play by 61 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:30.600 play as the rover inch closer and closer to landing. 62 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:34.440 The idea for a Spanish language broadcast came to her 63 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:37.479 when she was working on another Mars mission about a 64 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:39.520 decade ago, Curiosity. 65 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:42.440 It came to my mind, maybe like a week or 66 00:04:42.440 --> 00:04:46.279 a few days before Curiosity landed in twenty twelve. But 67 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.800 since then I've been, you know, going to the media 68 00:04:48.880 --> 00:04:52.800 office periodically every time there's a major mission happening, like 69 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:54.640 hey we should do this in Spanish, Hey we should 70 00:04:54.640 --> 00:04:58.040 do this in Spanish and yeah, So right before Perseverance started, 71 00:04:58.640 --> 00:05:01.160 I mentioned it again and consistantly, I feel like for 72 00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:03.479 seven years, and then they said yes. 73 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:11.680 So Indiana Trojijoa, Stadiajano, director Deuelo, the Superficio, the Perseverance, 74 00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:18.680 but thank god el primer program my Nesanol de la Nasa, 75 00:05:18.839 --> 00:05:20.360 Planetario Venios. 76 00:05:20.760 --> 00:05:24.919 Throughout nearly two hours of broadcast, Diana had several guests 77 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:28.839 start by virtually, like Lola and Abby from Sestime Street. 78 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:38.280 Oha Ana is the Lista ci Mascalistas see lore Sta 79 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:43.240 Dusperanduste Momento. 80 00:05:41.800 --> 00:05:52.320 And Colombian artist JUANEZZOLISASA journalists j Ramos and Maria Elena 81 00:05:52.400 --> 00:05:56.920 Salinas and others also made an appearance. Just before one 82 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:02.680 pm Pacific time on February eighteen, Perseverance landed on Mars 83 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:14.640 and on mar the video of the Spanish broadcast, which 84 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:18.719 they called junto Amos, has more than two point six 85 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:20.440 million views on YouTube. 86 00:06:20.960 --> 00:06:23.600 Our culture showed up to it, right. It wasn't like 87 00:06:23.800 --> 00:06:26.800 please come, it was the other way, which it was. 88 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.280 Thank you for having it in Spanish. We wanted to 89 00:06:29.440 --> 00:06:32.480 hear it. We have always been here, but you know, 90 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:34.960 nobody was talking to us. So now somebody's talking to us, 91 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:35.760 and that's great. 92 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:39.720 Her family in the US and abroad also tuned in. 93 00:06:40.200 --> 00:06:44.920 I'm from Colombia in my country on the public channel, 94 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.200 they broadcasted it, so my grandma saw it and she 95 00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:51.280 was super excited. She was actually on the phone with 96 00:06:51.400 --> 00:06:55.400 my mom, my kids, my husband, my mom. They're all 97 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:58.440 watching it on TV at home while I'm at the office. 98 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:01.400 Dan, I know it was glad her family watched, but 99 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:05.040 even more excited that they were part of this collective experience. 100 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.040 I'm sure that if he hadn't been the pandemic, and 101 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:11.200 you know, I love my culture and everything, I feel 102 00:07:11.240 --> 00:07:14.160 like we would have pull up the TV outside. Everybody 103 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:16.160 will have been on the street. People will be like, 104 00:07:16.280 --> 00:07:18.840 watch this, and like all the neighbors would have opened 105 00:07:18.840 --> 00:07:21.840 the doors, like I could see that happening on my 106 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:24.720 country and even on my own street, right where everybody 107 00:07:24.880 --> 00:07:27.200 just unites for a single thing that is happening, with 108 00:07:27.320 --> 00:07:29.400 a lot of pride because we're part of it. 109 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:36.000 The road to NASA has been a long one for Vienna, 110 00:07:36.520 --> 00:07:40.040 but she remembers different times throughout her life that space 111 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:43.720 found its way to her. The first time was when 112 00:07:43.760 --> 00:07:46.360 she was a little girl and her parents were getting 113 00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:49.760 a divorce. As she felt that everything around her was 114 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:53.320 falling off, the stars in the night sky held her up. 115 00:07:55.320 --> 00:07:58.720 That's when space came in for me, because I think 116 00:07:58.760 --> 00:08:01.200 that it was just more of like an escape kind 117 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:02.720 of like now as an adult, you know, you have 118 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:04.720 a bad day and you go out for a walk 119 00:08:04.880 --> 00:08:06.520 and you look at the stars and you're like, Okay, 120 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:08.640 I got my moment of I'm calm. 121 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:08.880 Now. 122 00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:10.760 That's the same it was for me when I was 123 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.280 a little girl, So thinking about the stars, looking at 124 00:08:13.760 --> 00:08:15.680 how awesome that is, and then as you're in that 125 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:21.200 zone of peace, recognizing that, my god, somebody actually walked 126 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:23.960 on the moon, which is insane and I am so 127 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.080 far from that and there's no way I will ever 128 00:08:26.200 --> 00:08:28.720 do that and it's not going to happen. But how 129 00:08:28.880 --> 00:08:33.480 cool would it be to understand how that works? Because 130 00:08:33.520 --> 00:08:36.960 somehow the sky figure out how to make it all work, 131 00:08:37.400 --> 00:08:39.680 and we haven't on Earth. 132 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.000 It was the women Indiana's life who would make her 133 00:08:43.040 --> 00:08:46.280 aware of her true potential on frequent visits to her 134 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.280 grandmother's house, who lived just a block away from her. 135 00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:51.880 She would sit on the floor and listen to her 136 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:55.400 Abuela Diaz and cousins talk about everything. 137 00:08:55.800 --> 00:08:57.839 Oh, my husband did this, You're not going to belave that. 138 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.800 It was kind of like they were coming together to 139 00:09:02.040 --> 00:09:05.199 share with each other the stories of what had occurred 140 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:09.040 to them on that week. There was this beautiful thing 141 00:09:09.640 --> 00:09:13.319 where there was a community of women. They were just 142 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:15.920 helping each other, and it was almost like, this is 143 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.560 happening to me, Is this happening to you? Or how 144 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.679 did you handle this? 145 00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:25.040 The anecess is coming together of women was essential for 146 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.559 her to recognize that everyone has problems, but there is 147 00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:29.920 always a way out. 148 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:34.040 Those problems in many cases, were very similar to each other. 149 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:36.439 I can do this, I can do that, or I 150 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.719 don't have this, or I don't have that, and a 151 00:09:38.800 --> 00:09:40.439 lot of the I can do this, I can do 152 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:46.520 that were related to the relationship where your significant other 153 00:09:47.160 --> 00:09:50.559 and the backing down from what you wanted out of 154 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:56.280 in some level fear fear of it's all to my partner. 155 00:09:56.400 --> 00:10:00.160 I give everything to my partner, but what about you, Like, 156 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:04.160 when are you gonna think about, for one moment, this 157 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:05.679 is what I want to do, this is how I 158 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:06.240 want to do it. 159 00:10:07.040 --> 00:10:11.480 She started to wonder what about her, what were her goals? 160 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.360 And really what that to me translated after a while 161 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:19.520 through the years was mainly that my grandma didn't finish 162 00:10:19.559 --> 00:10:24.520 middle school because of concerns from her significant other completing education. 163 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:28.440 My mom also took a long time to even complete 164 00:10:28.880 --> 00:10:32.240 her degree because she was supporting my dad. 165 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:36.559 But her mom and grandma wanted Diana's life to be different, 166 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:40.920 with high hopes and expectations for her. They had officially 167 00:10:41.040 --> 00:10:42.800 named her Lady Diana. 168 00:10:43.760 --> 00:10:46.400 Part of my understanding from my grandma and choosing the 169 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:50.559 name is you don't come second, you come first because 170 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:52.920 you're our princess of the house and we want you 171 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.120 to do so great. And so they tried everything from 172 00:10:56.200 --> 00:11:00.720 the name to the environment to pret me and build 173 00:11:00.760 --> 00:11:02.760 me in a way that I could see that I 174 00:11:02.800 --> 00:11:04.160 could do anything I wanted. 175 00:11:04.920 --> 00:11:07.920 Danna eventually moved to the US when she was seventeen 176 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:12.079 years old. She knew she wanted to pursue something challenging. 177 00:11:12.840 --> 00:11:15.079 I have to do something hard, I have to do 178 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:18.960 something that sends the message internally to my family really 179 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:24.000 that women do add value, that women have value, that 180 00:11:24.280 --> 00:11:29.880 we can contribute as much as another person or more so. 181 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:33.000 When I got here at that, how do I help 182 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.040 the men and my family recognize that. 183 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:38.800 She knew being an astronaut was one of the hardest 184 00:11:38.880 --> 00:11:42.199 things someone could do, so she started to explore the 185 00:11:42.280 --> 00:11:45.959 career paths of other astronauts and discovered several of them 186 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:51.760 were aerospace engineers. That eventually led her to NASA JPL, 187 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:55.439 where she's had many hats As the Mars mission has evolved. 188 00:11:56.280 --> 00:11:59.440 These days, Danna and her colleagues work around the clock 189 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:01.760 to make sure everything's okay on Mars. 190 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.800 A way of actually picturing this in my mind is 191 00:12:04.880 --> 00:12:07.520 like you're walking through a house and you're turning every 192 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:10.400 single light, making sure that every light bulb barks, and 193 00:12:10.520 --> 00:12:11.920 then nothing has actually. 194 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:15.160 Burned, she says. The rover has a schedule like you 195 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:17.480 and I in our case, you. 196 00:12:17.520 --> 00:12:19.480 Know, you put your alarm, I don't know at six am. 197 00:12:20.280 --> 00:12:23.520 The rover has an alarm at nine am, and so 198 00:12:23.760 --> 00:12:27.880 the rover wakes up at nine am to listen to 199 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:31.760 the commands of the day, which includes commanding everything from 200 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:38.120 moving the arm, taking images, doing any type of instrument activity, driving. 201 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:42.280 But the rover just like it's exactly like you and I. 202 00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:44.480 Right, at some point it's like I need to recharge 203 00:12:44.520 --> 00:12:47.440 my batteries, and so we put it to sleep. 204 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.680 Danna says the days on Earth and Mars are different, 205 00:12:53.040 --> 00:12:56.200 so sometimes they'll start at midnight and maybe another day 206 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:59.920 they'll start at three am or ten am. It just varies, 207 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:02.800 and while she plans to continue to be part of 208 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:05.960 the Mars mission, Diana has not given up on her 209 00:13:06.040 --> 00:13:08.320 original goal to become an astronaut. 210 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.839 If the opportunity way to come, I will certainly go. 211 00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:16.160 Right if you were to ask me right now, hey 212 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:18.439 there's an open spot you want to go or not, 213 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:20.920 I was like, yeah, let's do it, like there's no 214 00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:25.520 let me go think about it and let me go consult. Nope, 215 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:27.920 it's like, oh yeah, I already have my list of 216 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:29.040 what I will pack done. 217 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:42.640 Coming up on Latino USA, we'll hear more from Latinos 218 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.600 and Latinas who helped make this recent mission to Mars possible, 219 00:13:47.280 --> 00:13:49.800 and they're going to share some inspirational words for any 220 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:52.560 of you who are thinking about a career in NASA, 221 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:57.400 The Moon, the Stars, stem Mars. Stay with us, don't 222 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:58.520 stay with us. Hey, we're back, and let's get back 223 00:14:58.640 --> 00:15:02.200 to some of the Latinos and Latinas who recently helps 224 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:06.920 send a rover to Mars. Producer Renaldo Leans Junior once 225 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:08.640 again picks up the story from here. 226 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:14.800 In the lead up to the rover landing, part of 227 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:18.280 the Mars team worked on the rover itself, and others 228 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:23.800 worked hard on designing, building, and testing scientific instruments that 229 00:15:23.880 --> 00:15:29.640 are part of Perseverance. One of those instruments is named Sherlock, 230 00:15:30.280 --> 00:15:30.880 which is. 231 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:35.200 An ultra violet spectrometer and it has a companion called Watson. 232 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:38.200 We love our cute names. Watson is a camera that. 233 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:42.800 Is Christina Hernandez, a payload system engineer. She worked on 234 00:15:42.880 --> 00:15:47.520 two scientific instruments, one that was developed in Spain called Meta. 235 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:51.000 Which is a weather station that has sensors throughout the 236 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:54.680 vehicle and is going to help us understand temperature, humidity, 237 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:56.880 and even the dust that we have at Mars. 238 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.800 And one made in Norway called. 239 00:16:00.920 --> 00:16:04.000 Which is a ground penetrating radar that as the rover 240 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:09.040 is traversing and trekking along the Martian surface, rim Fax 241 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:12.000 is going to be able to image what's underneath. 242 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.920 Working with teams based outside the US forced Christina to 243 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:20.080 adapt to their clocks, and so. 244 00:16:20.160 --> 00:16:22.200 I would have to get up at like five am 245 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:26.040 for six am seven am design meetings with the team. 246 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.000 Early on, it was lots of meetings, lots of design, 247 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:31.560 lots of like you know, big pitchure, thinking how are 248 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.720 we going to do this? And about a year and 249 00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:39.480 a half from launch, it got to my favorite part, 250 00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:44.040 where you start testing and building hardware and seeing how 251 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:49.080 it's working and fighting fires and troubleshooting. That's the fun stuff, 252 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.400 right You're in the in the tests in the lab 253 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:55.440 to like three in the morning figuring out these problems 254 00:16:55.520 --> 00:16:57.840 that have come up that you didn't prepare for. 255 00:17:01.280 --> 00:17:04.280 But Gristina wasn't always the type of person who liked 256 00:17:04.320 --> 00:17:05.960 to break and take things apart. 257 00:17:06.600 --> 00:17:09.200 I didn't grow up being a tinker, you know. I 258 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:12.040 wasn't taking apart, you know, remotes and things like that. 259 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:16.600 I explored through turning a page in a book. I 260 00:17:17.040 --> 00:17:20.439 loved reading. I loved science fiction. And I remember seeing 261 00:17:21.080 --> 00:17:25.080 you know, pictures from Saturn that Cassini actually took, and 262 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:28.119 I asked myself, I was like, Wow, how do I 263 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:31.440 take a picture of something that's so far away, so 264 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.240 far out of my perspective and my reality. 265 00:17:35.160 --> 00:17:38.160 Gristina realized that she wanted to be someone who helps 266 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:42.600 answer those questions that are fundamental to being human, like 267 00:17:43.040 --> 00:17:45.920 why are we here? And what else is out there? 268 00:17:46.760 --> 00:17:50.960 I wanted to be an engineer that helped enable science, 269 00:17:51.119 --> 00:17:53.200 and I really feel that's what I get to do 270 00:17:53.520 --> 00:17:57.639 every single day as this payload systems engineer, which is 271 00:17:57.720 --> 00:18:01.120 really just, you know, a fancy title for somebody who 272 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:04.720 helps develop the tools and the science instruments that we 273 00:18:04.840 --> 00:18:08.480 take to go explore and answer these fundamental questions. 274 00:18:11.760 --> 00:18:15.680 The first time Christina heard about NASA's JPL was through 275 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:19.520 a show called Nova on PBS. She learned that it 276 00:18:19.600 --> 00:18:22.960 was at JPL where some of these engineers made missions 277 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:24.520 in space a reality. 278 00:18:25.320 --> 00:18:29.399 My mom was such a supporter of taking me to 279 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:32.560 the library, taking me to museums because we couldn't afford 280 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:37.160 space camp, so my mother sought out opportunities that were 281 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:41.080 accessible to us, and one of those was JPL's open House. 282 00:18:41.520 --> 00:18:47.160 I just came away with the feeling of this place's 283 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:51.480 Disneyland for nerds. You're walking around open house and these 284 00:18:51.560 --> 00:18:56.760 engineers are driving small robots over kids. They're bringing out 285 00:18:56.800 --> 00:19:00.920 our larger robots from the Mars Yard and showcasing. I 286 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:05.080 just never realized that there was a place where science 287 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:06.440 fiction meets reality. 288 00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:13.119 When Christina was in elementary school, her dad, an electrical technician, 289 00:19:13.600 --> 00:19:16.000 was studying to be an electrical engineer. 290 00:19:16.520 --> 00:19:19.760 My dad would always take me everywhere with him. He 291 00:19:19.800 --> 00:19:23.280 would take me to the facilities, and I just specifically 292 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.600 remember cal State, LA. There was a couple of you know, 293 00:19:26.840 --> 00:19:29.840 electrical centers that he would go and check in and repair, 294 00:19:30.600 --> 00:19:33.520 and I would see his toolkit, all of his meters 295 00:19:33.600 --> 00:19:36.520 where he's you know, checking on the equipment. And I 296 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:41.800 started to connect you know, math and science to dad. 297 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:44.680 I really started to make the connection of oh, like, 298 00:19:44.800 --> 00:19:47.080 my dad's going to be an engineer. He's going to 299 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:50.000 help in this endeavor of what I see on TV. 300 00:19:50.920 --> 00:19:53.159 She started to realize that if she wanted to make 301 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:57.680 science fiction happen, she needed to focus on engineering, which 302 00:19:57.760 --> 00:20:01.920 eventually led her to NASA's jp A few years ago. 303 00:20:02.080 --> 00:20:06.119 She took her parents and Abuilos, Mexican immigrants for a 304 00:20:06.320 --> 00:20:10.800 visit to JPL. While terurin the laboratory, her grandmother told 305 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:13.679 Christina a story she had never heard before. 306 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:19.400 There was a moment when they got picked up by immigration, 307 00:20:20.359 --> 00:20:23.800 and my grandmother tells me that when they were on 308 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:27.280 their way to the immigration center, on the radio, they 309 00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:32.080 were celebrating something with the Apollo astronauts. This was like 310 00:20:32.200 --> 00:20:33.240 back in the seventies. 311 00:20:33.600 --> 00:20:33.760 You know. 312 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:36.880 My grandmother just vividly remembers that moment, you know, when 313 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:41.399 she was thinking about, oh, there's people who are exploring space. 314 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:46.080 Suddenly Christina realized how far she'd made it. 315 00:20:46.800 --> 00:20:49.800 When I heard that story, I got very emotional because 316 00:20:49.840 --> 00:20:53.920 I it was that moment where you realize what a 317 00:20:54.080 --> 00:20:57.080 privilege it can be to be working for a nassa, 318 00:20:57.560 --> 00:21:00.760 to be having your dream job. And it really started 319 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:05.840 with my grandparents and my parents setting this foundation of 320 00:21:06.440 --> 00:21:11.000 coming to this country for greater opportunity and pushing forward 321 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:13.080 no matter what the obstacles were. 322 00:21:16.080 --> 00:21:19.879 When Perseverance made it to Mars, Christina's grandmother took her 323 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:24.400 granddaughter's contributions to the mission as also part of her own. 324 00:21:25.080 --> 00:21:27.720 In the moment of landing, you know, what she had 325 00:21:27.800 --> 00:21:30.719 said is that yo ya ye yeah Marte, because her 326 00:21:30.840 --> 00:21:34.040 granddaughter had gotten there, and it was it was very 327 00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:39.760 special because we are here because of our families, because 328 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:44.240 they supported us with whatever means they had. It's the 329 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:48.280 foundation and the path that the explorers and my family 330 00:21:48.840 --> 00:21:50.080 paved for me to be here. 331 00:21:59.080 --> 00:22:03.440 For Ecuador born Eleo Morio, a systems test bet engineer 332 00:22:03.560 --> 00:22:07.440 at NASA JPL, it was his mom who was it foundation. 333 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:11.280 My mom the entire time, you know, she was an 334 00:22:11.320 --> 00:22:16.280 ecuador She had almost nearly a twenty plus year career 335 00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:18.920 as a teacher. You know, she reached the heights of 336 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:22.480 her career. She was a principal. She was known across 337 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.920 you know, the whole area for academics and the such. 338 00:22:26.760 --> 00:22:30.080 Then in the nineties, things started to change. 339 00:22:30.560 --> 00:22:33.280 The banking system kind of collapsed, and this is around 340 00:22:33.320 --> 00:22:36.200 the time where Ecuador gets dollarized. My mom knew that 341 00:22:36.280 --> 00:22:39.600 the situation could potentially get dire, and we had some 342 00:22:39.760 --> 00:22:42.480 family at the time or over you know, several years, 343 00:22:42.560 --> 00:22:45.480 had already moved to New York City, which included my 344 00:22:45.600 --> 00:22:49.760 grandparents and some aunts and uncles. So we got fortunate 345 00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:53.959 in the in the sense that my grandpa requested us 346 00:22:54.080 --> 00:22:57.960 through the green card process and we got our green cards. 347 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:01.920 So Eleo and his mom packed up and left for 348 00:23:02.080 --> 00:23:09.240 New York. Elliot's older brother, seventeen years his senior, moved 349 00:23:09.280 --> 00:23:11.399 to New York before Eliot was born. 350 00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:15.159 I can't imagine putting myself through that kind of position 351 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.480 where after twenty plus years as a professional in my 352 00:23:18.600 --> 00:23:21.000 respective career, I end up going to another country where 353 00:23:21.040 --> 00:23:24.560 I don't necessarily know the language, and I have a 354 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:27.680 son that I have to take care of and make 355 00:23:27.800 --> 00:23:31.159 ends meet so that he's fed, he's educated, and has 356 00:23:31.280 --> 00:23:32.360 opportunities set. 357 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:32.680 Up for him. 358 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:37.359 Elioth's mom would hold different jobs, from packing food at 359 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:41.920 John F. Kennedy Airport to cleaning offices. Around this time, 360 00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:45.200 Elio's older brother ended up getting married to a Puerto 361 00:23:45.280 --> 00:23:47.840 Rican woman and they all moved to the island. 362 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:53.679 It's where I form my Spanish is Puerto Rican by 363 00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:58.760 all definition, I identify more Puerto Rican than Ecuadorian. 364 00:23:58.800 --> 00:24:02.400 For that case, Levin again in a place where Spanish 365 00:24:02.600 --> 00:24:06.680 was also spoken. Elio's mom resumed her teaching career. She 366 00:24:06.800 --> 00:24:09.400 did tutoring to bring in some extra money and went 367 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:10.240 back to college. 368 00:24:10.800 --> 00:24:12.639 It was always very clear for me through her that 369 00:24:12.840 --> 00:24:16.480 education was the way out of our, you know, situation. 370 00:24:17.160 --> 00:24:19.920 It wasn't full blown poverty, but we didn't have you know, 371 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:22.439 we never had a car. I never had internet at 372 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:25.479 my own place. We never had cable. I got all 373 00:24:25.600 --> 00:24:29.080 these things, you know, spending weekends at my friend's house 374 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:32.359 or something. That's where I kind of became aware of 375 00:24:32.560 --> 00:24:35.520 what the working class in middle class people had, you know. 376 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:39.000 It gave me those a sense of aspiration to you know, 377 00:24:39.080 --> 00:24:41.160 if I go to school and do such and such, 378 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:43.960 I can have these things, and I can provide these 379 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:45.919 opportunities for my friends and family. 380 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:49.800 It was during these weekends at his friend's house, while 381 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:55.000 watching Saturday morning cartoons that Ilio became interested in science, math, 382 00:24:55.080 --> 00:24:55.840 and technology. 383 00:24:56.359 --> 00:24:59.280 I used to love Dexter's Laboratory still do, would watch 384 00:24:59.320 --> 00:25:01.399 that in a heartbeat any day. I wanted to be 385 00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:01.920 like Dexter. 386 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:06.640 Dexter my sensors have picked up a giant meteor headed. 387 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:07.560 Directly for Earth. 388 00:25:09.760 --> 00:25:14.040 That I wanted to have my own lab. I wanted 389 00:25:14.080 --> 00:25:17.080 to build my own robots and do my own science experiments. 390 00:25:19.320 --> 00:25:24.560 Like Christina. He'd also watched Nova and Catching Cosmos, all 391 00:25:24.680 --> 00:25:28.000 shows that really opened his eyes to what the universe had. 392 00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:31.720 Fantasy played a lot into how I shaped I guess 393 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:36.119 and how I formed what I believed in and created 394 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:37.800 a vision in a way of what I wanted to 395 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:39.120 become involved. 396 00:25:38.760 --> 00:25:45.240 With Elliot would stay in Puerto Rico until around the 397 00:25:45.320 --> 00:25:48.280 time he was in eighth grade. Then he would have 398 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:49.320 to relocate again. 399 00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:51.600 It was two thousand and six, two thousand and seven, 400 00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:55.240 that's when the economy in Puerto Rico really starts spiraling 401 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.760