Franklin Chang-Diaz

Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz (張福林, pinyin: Zhāng Fùlín) (born 5 April 1950) is an Costa Rican-American physicist and astronaut. He participated in seven NASA space shuttle missions.

Chang-Diaz was born in San Jose, Costa Rica to a Chinese-Hispanic father and Hispanic mother, and moved to the United States to finish his high school education. He earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1973, and a Ph.D. in applied plasma physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977. For is graduate research at MIT, Chang-Diaz worked in the field of fusion technology and plasma-based rocket propulsion.

Chang-Diaz was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980 and first flew aboard STS-61-C in 1986. Subsequent missions include 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 EVAs as part of the construction of the International Space Station. Chang-Diaz is also an adjunct professor of physics at Rice University and at the University of Houston, and director of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center.

External link

• NASA Biography