Latinitas_Celebrating 40 Big Dreamers by Juliet Menendez

Author:Juliet Menendez [Menendez, Juliet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Childrens
ISBN: 9781250234629
Goodreads: 51591626
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Published: 2021-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Serena Auñón

April 9, 1976–present

From the time Serena first watched a space shuttle shoot through the sky, she made up her mind to be one of the astronauts inside. Watching the launch again and again on TV, she dreamed of floating in space and doing somersaults right through the air.

“You know, NASA always needs engineers!” Serena’s papi said. And that got ideas buzzing around in her head.

When she grew up, Serena went to college and studied engineering. She loved learning about systems and figuring out how everything connects: how one part works with the next. But hearing her friends in medical school talk about their classes on how the body heals made Serena stop and think: “When we are up in space with no gravity, do things in our bodies change? Are there different rules in outer space, or do we stay the same?”

At the University of Texas, Serena found a program where she could study to become both an astronaut and a doctor. She was so excited to find out what happens to human diseases in space that as soon as she got her degree in aerospace medicine, she applied and was accepted as an astronaut on NASA’s team!

On her very first mission in 2018, Serena brought along a sample of cells and proteins, some from patients with cancer and some from patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Without gravity, she was able to study the samples in 3D. Her work has only begun, but she is already helping doctors on earth better understand and treat their patients. Now she can’t wait for her next missions: she hopes to go to the moon and then, maybe someday, to Mars!

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