| Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz | |
|---|---|
| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | Costa Rican, American |
| Status | Retired |
| Born | April 5, 1950 San José, Costa Rica |
| Other occupation | Physicist |
| Alma mater | University of Connecticut (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) |
| Time in space | 66d 18h 16m |
| Selection | 1980 NASA Group |
| Missions | STS-61-C, STS-34, STS-46, STS-60, STS-75, STS-91, STS-111 |
| Mission insignia | |
| Franklin Chang-Diaz | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 張福林 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 张福林 | ||||||||
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Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz (born April 5, 1950) is a Costa Rican-American engineer, physicist and former NASA astronaut. He is currently president and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company.[1] He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, making him the record holder as of 2008 for the most spaceflights (a record he shares with Jerry L. Ross). He was the third Latino American to go into space,[2] (first Latino American was Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez [3] from Cuba in 1980, and second was Rodolfo Neri Vela from Mexico in 1985) and is the first naturalized US citizen to become an astronaut.[4]
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Chang-Diaz was born in San José, Costa Rica to a father of Chinese descent and a Hispanic Costa Rican mother, both Costa Rican-born. He studied at La Salle School, then moved to the United States to finish his high school education. He went on to attend the University of Connecticut, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and joined the federal TRIO Student Support Services program in 1973.[5] He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in applied plasma physics in 1977.[5] For his graduate research at MIT, Chang-Diaz worked in the field of fusion technology and plasma-based rocket propulsion.[4]
Chang-Diaz was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980 and first flew aboard STS-61-C in 1986. Subsequent missions included STS-34 (1989), STS-46 (1992), STS-60 (1994), STS-75 (1996), STS-91 (1998), and STS-111 (2002). During STS-111, he performed three EVAs with Philippe Perrin as part of the construction of the International Space Station. He was also director of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center from 1993 to 2005. Chang-Diaz retired from NASA in 2005.[4]
After leaving NASA, Chang-Diaz set up the Ad Astra Rocket Company, which became dedicated to the development of advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology. Years of research and development have produced the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), an electrical propulsion device for use in space.[6] With a flexible mode of operation, the rocket can achieve very high exhaust speeds, and even has the theoretical capability to take a manned rocket to Mars in 39 days.[7]
Due to his career and scientific success, he has been decorated multiple times in Costa Rica and named Honor Citizen by the national legislature.[8] The Costa Rican National High Technology Center (CeNAT), among other institutions, is named after him.[9]
As of 2008[update], one of his daughters, Sonia Chang-Díaz, was a member of the Massachusetts Senate, representing the second Suffolk district seat.[10][11]
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