Ellen Lauri Ochoa was born on May 10, 1958 in Los Angeles, California to Joseph and Rosanne (née Deardorff) Ochoa. Her paternal grandparents immigrated from Sonora to Arizona and later to California where her father was born. She grew up in La Mesa, California.

Ochoa graduated from Grossmont High School in El Cajon in 1975. Her parents divorced when she was in high school and she lived with her mother and her brothers.

Ochoa received a bachelor of science degree in physics from San Diego State University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1980, before earning a master of science degree and a doctorate from Stanford Department of Electrical Engineering in 1981 and 1985, respectively.

Ochoa was selected by NASA in January 1991 and became an astronaut in July 1991. Her technical assignments in the Astronaut Office included serving as the crew representative for flight software, computer hardware and robotics, Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, lead spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control and as acting as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.

Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1993. The purpose of the Shuttle mission was to study the Earth’s ozone layer. A veteran of four space flights, Ochoa has logged nearly 1000 hours in space. She was a mission specialist on STS-56 (1993), was payload commander on STS-66, and was mission specialist and flight engineer on STS-96 and STS-110 in 2002. Ochoa was in Mission Control during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and was one of the first personnel informed of television coverage showing Columbia’s disintegration.

A flag with the rocket logo of the Ochoa Middle School in Pasco, Washington flew with Ochoa in April 2002 aboard the Shuttle Atlantis for an 11-day mission to the International Space Station. Ochoa returned the flag to the school when she visited as a special guest at the 2002 dedication and it remains on permanent display.

From 2007, after retiring from spacecraft operations, Ochoa served as Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center, helping to manage and direct the Astronaut Office and Aircraft Operations. On January 1, 2013, Ochoa became the first Hispanic and second female director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.