Lissette Martinez
Encyclopedia
Lissette Martinez is the lead electrical engineer for the Space Experiment Module program at the Wallops Flight Facility
which is part of NASA
's Goddard Space Flight Center
.
where her family had moved when she was still a child. There she received her primary and secondary education. When she was in 8th grade, she was given a homework assignment to study the moon
which required that she spent time on the roof of her house every night for a month. She wrote down and detailed every aspect of the way the moon looked. She remembers that as an instrumental factor which inspired her to pursue a career in the Space Science.
. During her third year as an electrical engineering student she was accepted into the NASA Cooperative Education Program which allowed her to work with NASA scientist and at the same time earn school credits. Martinez earned her degree in electrical engineering in 1993 and was offered a job in NASA.
in 1999. She was featured in the November 2002 issue of Latina magazine.
She is responsible for providing electrical engineering support to Code 870 Space Experiment Module (SEM) program. She is also responsible for the testing of ground and flight hardware. Martinez works with students around the world, helping them with science experiments that will actually ride along on Space Shuttle
missions and blast into space.
. She lives with her son in Salisbury, Maryland
.
Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Flight Facility , located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other U.S. government agencies...
which is part of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...
.
Early years
Martinez was born in Brooklyn, New York to Puerto Rican parents. She was raised in Yauco, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
where her family had moved when she was still a child. There she received her primary and secondary education. When she was in 8th grade, she was given a homework assignment to study the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
which required that she spent time on the roof of her house every night for a month. She wrote down and detailed every aspect of the way the moon looked. She remembers that as an instrumental factor which inspired her to pursue a career in the Space Science.
Education
After she graduated from high school, she applied and was accepted in the University of Puerto Rico at MayaguezUniversity of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez in Spanish , is a land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant state university located in the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico...
. During her third year as an electrical engineering student she was accepted into the NASA Cooperative Education Program which allowed her to work with NASA scientist and at the same time earn school credits. Martinez earned her degree in electrical engineering in 1993 and was offered a job in NASA.
Career in NASA
Martinez was part of the team that launched a rocket from White Sands, New Mexico to gather information on the Hale-Bopp CometComet Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale–Bopp was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the 20th century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades...
in 1999. She was featured in the November 2002 issue of Latina magazine.
She is responsible for providing electrical engineering support to Code 870 Space Experiment Module (SEM) program. She is also responsible for the testing of ground and flight hardware. Martinez works with students around the world, helping them with science experiments that will actually ride along on Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
missions and blast into space.
Currently
Martinez continues to work at Wallops Flight Facility located in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. She lives with her son in Salisbury, Maryland
Salisbury, Maryland
-Demographics:Salisbury is the principal city of the Salisbury-Ocean Pines CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Salisbury metropolitan area and the Ocean Pines micropolitan area , which had a combined population of 176,657 at the 2010 census.As of the census of 2000, there were...
.
See also
- List of famous Puerto Ricans
- Puerto Rican scientists and inventors
- List of Puerto Ricans in the United States Space Program
- University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez people