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\u201cFrom my earliest childhood, flight had always captivated me. I lived out in the boonies and the farmlands, so I didn\u2019t have neighbors to go and play with. If I wasn\u2019t working, I was left to my own devices, and often, I would just be captivated by the wildlife and in particular, the birds of prey that I would see. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, they represented a freedom of some kind or another. These birds and the view they have \u2014 they can take in so much. So, from that point on, I knew I wanted to be involved in flight and aviation. <\/p>\n
\u201cI [enjoyed] all things flight, all things spaceflight. I couldn\u2019t get enough of it. I became an avid reader, whereas before, I wasn\u2019t much of a reader. I couldn\u2019t get enough material to read about my heroes from flight and space. They became my role models and the path that they took involved, at some point or another, a pretty rigorous education and dedication to doing well academically, physically, or athletically. So, I threw myself into that entire sort of mindset. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was working for the Air Force, I was able to fly and work on aircraft that I would dream about, looking at in the magazines Aviation Week and Space Technology. Here they are, right in front of me. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 So, my career has been as close as possible to that of a flight test engineer. And then, right on the heels of being captivated by atmospheric flight, working in human spaceflight has put me over the Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Dr. Donald Mendoza, Chief Engineer, NASA Engineering & Safety Center, NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center<\/p>\n
Image Credit: NASA\/Dominic Hart<\/em>
Interviewer: NASA\/Thalia Patrinos<\/em><\/p>\nCheck out some of our other Faces of NASA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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