Franklin Chang-Díaz

Who is Franklin Chang-Díaz?

Franklin Chang-Díaz is a Costa Rican-American physicist and former NASA astronaut, widely celebrated as the first Hispanic-American to travel to space. Born in San José, Costa Rica, he moved to the United States as a teenager, later earning a doctorate in applied plasma physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Selected by NASA in 1980, he flew seven Space Shuttle missions between 1986 and 2002, a record he shares with only one other astronaut, and logged over 1,600 hours in space, including multiple spacewalks. Alongside his astronaut career, Chang-Díaz has spent decades researching plasma propulsion technology, developing the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), an experimental engine concept designed to dramatically shorten travel times for deep-space missions such as journeys to Mars. After retiring from NASA in 2005, he founded Ad Astra Rocket Company to continue developing the VASIMR engine. He is regarded as one of Costa Rica's most celebrated scientific figures and a source of national pride, with schools, scholarships, and public institutions in Costa Rica named in his honor.

Sources: NASA, Astronaut Biography: Franklin R. Chang-Díaz · Ad Astra Rocket Company, company and VASIMR technology history · Massachusetts Institute of Technology, alumni profile records