Electrical engineer will be 1st Mexican-born and one of youngest women in space
Katya Echazarreta is the first Mexican-born and one of youngest women to fly to space, joining the fifth passenger flight by Blue Origin.
Growing up in Guadalajara, Mexico, Katya Echazarreta was encouraged to abandon her dreams of traveling to space.
“Everyone around me — family, friends, teachers — I just kept hearing the same thing: That’s not for you,” Echazarreta told The Associated Press.
Echazarreta, 26, will prove them wrong Saturday when she joins a diverse international crew boarding the fifth passenger flight by Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space travel venture.
She and five others, including Victor Correa Hespanha, the second Brazilian to fly to space, will blast off from Texas atop a New Shepard rocket for a 10-minute flight. The automated flight should reach an altitude of roughly 66 miles (106 kilometers) before parachuting into the desert.
Echazarreta, whose flight is sponsored by the nonprofit Space for Humanity, will be the first Mexican-born woman and one of the youngest women to fly to space. She was chosen from more than 7,000 applicants in more than 100 countries.
Rating: 5