Franklin Chang Díaz

Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz (April 5, 1950)[1] is a Costa Rican American mechanical engineer, physicist, former NASA astronaut. He is the founder and current CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company[2] as well as a member of Cummins' board of directors.[3] He became an American citizen in 1977.[4] He is of Costa Rican Spanish (maternal side) and Chinese (paternal side) descent.[5] He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, tying the record, as of 2018 for the most spaceflights (a record set by Jerry L. Ross). He was the third Latin American, but the first Latin American immigrant NASA Astronaut selected to go into space.[6] Chang Díaz is a member of the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Chang and the second or maternal family name is Díaz.
Franklin Chang Díaz (張福林)
Born (1951-04-05) April 5, 1951
San José, Costa Rica
NationalityCosta Rica and American
Alma materUniversity of Connecticut (BS, 1973)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (ScD, 1977)
OccupationPhysicist, engineer, entrepreneur
Space career
NASA botanist
Time in space
66 d 18 h 16 m
Selection1980 NASA Group
MissionsSTS-34 STS-46 STS-60 STS-61-C STS-75 STS-91 STS-111
Mission insignia
Franklin Chang Díaz
Simplified Chinese张福林
Traditional Chinese張福林

Family and education

Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz was born in San José, Costa Rica on April 5, 1950 to a Costa Rican father of Chinese descent, Ramón Ángel Chang Morales, an oil worker whose own father fled China during the Boxer Rebellion.[7] His mother is also Costa Rican, María Eugenia Díaz Romero. One of six children, he has a younger sister, Sonia Rosa (born December 1952) and his mother, brothers and sisters live in Portland. His elder daughters are Jean Elizabeth (born December 1973) and Sonia Rosa (born March 1978) who is a member of the Massachusetts Senate.[8][9] He married Peggy Marguerite Doncaster in the United States on 17 December 1984 and his younger daughters are Lidia Aurora (born March 1988) and Miranda Karina (July 1995),[10] both born in Houston, Texas.[11][12][13][14]

He graduated from Colegio de La Salle in San Jos with an "A" in November 1967, then moved to the United States to finish his high school education at Hartford Public High School in Connecticut, in 1969.[14] He went on to attend the University of Connecticut, where he earned a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and joined the federal TRIO Student Support Services program in 1973.[15] He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a Ph.D. degree in applied plasma physics in 1977.[15] For his graduate research at MIT, Chang Díaz worked in the field of fusion technology and plasma-based rocket propulsion.[4]

NASA career

Chang Díaz was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980 and first flew aboard Space Shuttle mission 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 extra-vehicular activities (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 Díaz retired from NASA in 2005.[4]

Post-NASA career

After leaving NASA, Chang Díaz 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.[16] With a flexible mode of operation, the rocket can achieve very high exhaust speeds, and with a sufficiently powerful electrical supply even has the theoretical capability to take a crewed rocket to Mars in 39 days.[17]

Chang Díaz also is active in environmental protection and raising awareness about climate change, notably in his role in Odyssey 2050 The Movie in which he encourages young people to get motivated about environmental issues.[18]

Dr. Chang with students during the filming of Odyssey 2050 The Movie at Ad Astra Rocket Company.

In addition, Chang Díaz is an Adjunct Professor in Physics and Astronomy at Rice University.[19] He has been on the board of directors of Cummins since Dec 08, 2009.[20]

Awards and honors

In 1986, Franklin Chang Díaz was one of twelve recipients of the Medal of Liberty. He was inducted into the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 5, 2012[21] in a ceremony that took place in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Also, due to his career and scientific success, he has been decorated multiple times in Costa Rica and named Honor Citizen by the national legislature.[14] The Costa Rican National High Technology Center (CeNAT), among other institutions, is named after him.[22] In 2014, Chang Díaz was awarded the "Buzz Aldrin Quadrennial Space Award" by The Explorers Club. Buzz Aldrin, whom Chang Díaz called a childhood hero, presented the award.[23]

gollark: I don't think you waste any electricity beyond the regular cost of having a server on.
gollark: Yes, why did it get implemented this way?
gollark: It overlaps with my avatar! I resent this.
gollark: Are there *any* known examples of SolarFlame5 being right, ever, under any circumstance?
gollark: And yet.

See also

References
  1. "Chang-Díaz, Franklin". Current Biography Yearbook 2011. Ipswich, MA: H.W. Wilson. 2011. pp. 121–124. ISBN 9780824211219.
  2. "Board of Directors". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  3. "Board of Directors". Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  4. "Franklin Chang-Diaz: Astronaut and Rocket Scientist". Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved 2010-01-12.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link), Wired Science, November 14, 2007.
  5. NASA biography NASA, August 2005.
  6. NOVA Science Now. "Profile: Franklin Chang-Diaz". PBS. Retrieved April 21, 2011. The first Latin American to go into space was Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez from Cuba in 1980 (through the Soviet Union) and second was Rodolfo Neri Vela from Mexico in 1985.
  7. Chang-Díaz, Franklin R.: 1950—: Astronaut, Physicist Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved: 2012-05-05.
  8. "Sonia Chang-Diaz grabs Senate seat - BostonHerald.com". Boston Herald. 2008-11-05. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  9. Drake, John C. (2008-09-17). "A Senate fixture toppled: Chang-Díaz defeats embattled Wilkerson in primary". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
  10. Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz – Keynote Speaker Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine Babson. Retrieved: 2012-05-05.
  11. Consultas de hechos y actos civiles y electorales Archived 2010-05-10 at the Wayback Machine Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones. Retrieved: 2012-05-05. (in Spanish)
  12. La familia Díaz de San José La Nación. Retrieved: 2012-05-05. (in Spanish)
  13. Space Shuttle Mission STS-75 Press Kit NASA. February 1996.
  14. Biographical Data: Franklin R. Chang-Dìaz (Ph.D.) NASA. August 2017.
  15. Spacefacts Biography of Franklin Chang-Diaz. Spacefacts. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
  16. "NASA - Propulsion Systems of the Future". Nasa.gov. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
  17. Billings, Lee (2009-09-29). "Former astronaut Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz explains how his plasma rocket engine could revolutionize space travel and why we need nuclear power in space". seedmagazine.com. Seed Media Group. Archived from the original on 2016-12-29. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  18. Whelan, Ben. "Odyssey 2050". Odyssey 2050. British Embassy Costa Rica. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  19. "Franklin Chang-Diaz". Faculty Information System. Rice University. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  20. "Cummins.com > News Article". 2009-12-08.
  21. "Collect Space". Collect Space. 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
  22. Address: Building Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz, 1.3 km. North American Embajada Pavas, San Jose, Costa Rica Centro Nacional de Alta de Tecnología (CeNAT), 2011.
  23. "Grupo científico mundial premia a Franklin Chang". La Nacion. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
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