Colombian Diana Trujillo is the new NASA flight director

Colombian aerospace engineer Diana Trujillo, one of the flight leaders who will supervise NASA’s program to return to the Moon, presented in opening remarks her motto, ‘We are Flight’, an indicative that speaks of “a community, of what who we are as people and what we value.

Trujillo, 44, born in Cali (Colombia), addressed the Mission Control Center team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston (Texas) to show her “absolute joy” at sharing a mission surrounded by ” incredible and talented human beings.

Trujillo highlighted that “one of the most important lessons learned” was discovering “the power that comes from working together with a team of people who share the same passion for exploration.”

A passion that leads to “consider crazy ideas, to be faithful to each other, to challenge ourselves, to seek the truth,” stressed the first Latina woman to be part of the Academy program of that American space agency and to be selected for direct human space flight missions.

He also had words in Spanish when he said that “we are a family, we are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We are engineers, scientists and doctors. We are a community of explorers.”

The word “we are,” he concluded, also speaks of “what we have overcome to become, of what we can do together.”

“That’s why my callsign will be ‘Somos Flight,'” he said from the control center.

Trujillo is part of a new group made up of Heidi Brewer, Ronak Dave, Chris Dobbins, Garrett Hehn, Nicole McElroy and Elias Myrmo.

The seven will lead “teams of flight controllers, research and engineering experts and support staff around the world, making decisions in real time,” the agency detailed in 2022.

“They will be responsible for keeping astronauts safe and executing human spaceflight missions,” said Norm Knight, director of NASA Flight Operations, in a statement.

Becoming a NASA flight director requires years of study and dedication, as well as professional experience in a high-stress environment that requires quick decision-making.

Trujillo, an immigrant who arrived in the United States at age 17, with little in her pockets and without speaking English, became the leader of the team of engineers that developed the robotic arm of the Perseverance spacecraft.

The Colombian obtained a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland in College Park, with additional studies at the University of Florida (UF), in Gainesville.

In 2021 he received the Boyacá Cross, the highest honor that the Government of Colombia grants to its civilians.