From: baalke@zagami.jpl.nasa.gov   
      
   Marta Metelko   
   Headquarters, Washington                 October 15, 2003   
   (Phone: 202/358-1642)   
      
   John Ira Petty   
   Johnson Space Center, Houston   
   (Phone: 281/483-5111)   
      
   RELEASE: 03-335   
      
   ASTRONAUT CHANG-DIAZ WINS DISCOVER MAGAZINE AWARD   
      
        NASA Astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz has won Discover   
   magazine's 2003 Innovation Award for Space Science and   
   Technology, in the Space Explorer category. Chang-Diaz is a   
   world-class rocket propulsion scientist. The prestigious   
   awards are to be announced in the magazine's November issue.   
      
   These 14th annual awards honor scientists whose work has   
   benefited the space program and all humanity. The Innovation   
   Awards for Space Science and Technology are presented in   
   Space Explorer, Communications, Space Scientists, Technology   
   for Humanity, and Aerospace categories.   
      
   Chang-Diaz is a veteran of seven space flights, a record he   
   shares with one other astronaut. He also is director of the   
   Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space   
   Center in Houston. There he and his team are developing the   
   Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR)   
   Engine, a concept that may eventually enable humans to   
   explore more distant parts of our solar system and perhaps   
   beyond.   
      
   Born and raised in Costa Rica, Chang-Diaz came to the United   
   States after graduating from high school in his native   
   country in 1967. He arrived in Connecticut speaking no   
   English and with only $50 in his pocket.   
      
   He graduated from Hartford (Conn.) High School in 1969 and   
   earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University   
   of Connecticut in 1973. Chang-Diaz got his Ph.D. in applied   
   plasma physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology   
   in 1977. He later worked in the nation's controlled fusion   
   program.   
      
   He became an astronaut in August 1981. His first space   
   flight, in January 1986, was a satellite deployment and   
   research mission. His most recent flight was an International   
   Space Station assembly and crew exchange mission in June   
   2002. He did three spacewalks during that flight.   
      
   He remains a national hero in Costa Rica, where his mother,   
   brothers and sisters still live.   
      
   For more information on Chang-Diaz and other astronauts,   
   visit the astronaut biography website at:   
      
   http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/   
      
   For more information about NASA and its rich history, visit:   
      
   http://www.nasa.gov   
   and   
   http://history.nasa.gov   
      
   -end-   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)