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Discover the great story of Rosa Ávalos-Warren, The Aerospace Engineer

Rosa Ávalos-Warren is a Peruvian who dreamt of being part of NASA from an early age and finally achieved it! She currently works as mission manager for manned space flights in this renowned US organization, where she has already led more than 20 missions since she joined in 2009. However, getting to where she is was not easy for her

On March 4 of this year, the aerospace engineer was awarded the Silver Snoopy award by NASA, a special recognition for her exceptional service in the different missions, with an emphasis on flight safety, according to the United States Embassy. in Peru.

What is the story of Rosa Ávalos-Warren?
Rosa Ávalos-Warren, born in Lima, comes from a humble family. When she was a child she sold figs in Chilca (Cañete) to help the economy of her home. At school, mathematics was always her passion, although it was not this that made her believe that she could become an engineer, but the insistence of her two older brothers. “They always told me that women and men could have a university degree and be engineers,” she said in an interview for NASA. At the age of 12, in search of a better future, Rosa and her parents emigrated to Northern Virginia, in the United States.

Once settled in her new home, she set out to learn English as quickly as possible, in order to help her parents get along in a country where they did not speak the language. In 2003, when she was 14, an event marked her life: she followed on television the return to Earth of the space shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated while passing through the atmosphere. All seven crew members died. “When I saw the launch of the space shuttle Columbia, it was one of the first images that connected me to aerospace engineering. At the time I was waiting for his return, unfortunately, there was a tragedy and we lost seven astronauts. I realized that I wanted to work for NASA, to be one of the people to help make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she told the space agency. Ávalos-Warren, thanks to a scholarship based on academic merit, was able to study Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech, located in the city of Blacksburg. She later earned a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University in Houston, Texas. Rosa Ávalos-Warren joined NASA in 2009. James Webb telescope, the important NASA project is led by this Peruvian scientist

What is Artemis about, the mission Rosa Ávalos-Warren is working on?

Rosa Ávalos-Warren is currently monitoring each phase of the Artemis mission, which aims to bring two astronauts, including the first woman, to the Moon in 2024.

This project is relevant not only because the travelers will return to our satellite after many years, but they will also land in a place where no human being has been before: the south pole of the Moon. The Peruvian engineer also gives NASA STEM talks, through which she promotes the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers among women, young people and girls.

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