." Coming from my earliest childhood years, flight had actually always captivated me. I endured in the boonies and also the fields, so I really did not possess next-door neighbors to go and also have fun with. If I wasn't working, I was delegated my very own devices, and also often, I would simply be actually mesmerized due to the wildlife as well as in particular, the beast of preys that I would see." To me, they represented an independence of some kind or yet another. These birds as well as the sight they possess-- they may take in so much. Therefore, coming from that factor on, I understood I intended to be involved in trip and also flying." I [taken pleasure in] all factors trip, all factors spaceflight. I could not acquire sufficient of it. I ended up being a devoted reader, whereas previously, I wasn't much of a reader. I could not get adequate component to check out my heroes coming from air travel and room. They became my good example and the path that they took entailed, eventually or even one more, a pretty extensive education and learning and dedication to doing effectively academically, literally, or even athletically. Thus, I tossed myself into that whole kind of mentality." When I was working for the Aviation service, I was able to fly and also work with plane that I will dream approximately, checking out in the journals Air travel Week and also Area Modern Technology. Listed below they are actually, appropriate facing me." ... Therefore, my career has actually been as close as feasible to that of a trip exam engineer. And afterwards, directly on the heels of being actually captivated by climatic trip, operating in individual spaceflight has actually placed me over the Moon.".-- Doctor Donald Mendoza, Main Developer, NASA Engineering & Safety And Security Center, NASA's Ames Research Center.Image Credit Report: NASA/Dominic HartInterviewer: NASA/Thalia Patrinos.Take a look at some of our other Faces of NASA.