The People Behind Aerospace Progress
From early flight to space exploration, aerospace advances come from people with different experiences, disciplines and perspectives. Meet pioneers across the field, including women, Asian and Pacific Islander, Black and Hispanic and Latino innovators, as well as Cal Poly alumni whose work continues the story.
Historical Pioneers
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is a former astronaut and fighter pilot. He was one of the first two people to land on the Moon and is the last surviving crew member of Apollo 11.
Glenn Curtiss
Glenn Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer. He is considered a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry.
Hilda Lyon
Hilda Lyon was a British engineer who invented the "Lyon Shape", a streamlined design used for airships and submarines.
Mary Sherman Morgan
Mary Sherman Morgan designed the rocket fuel Hydyne that enabled the launch of the Jupiter-C rocket, putting the US into space.
The Mercury 13
The Mercury 13 were thirteen US women who successfully underwent the same screening tests as the astronauts selected by NASA.
Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer. He was the first person to walk on the Moon.
The Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a precursor of the U.S. Air Force.
The Wright Brothers
The Wright brothers were two pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane.
Women Aerospace Pioneers
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was an American aviation pioneer. In 1932, she became the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Dorothy Spicer
Dorothy Spicer was an English aviator and the first woman to gain an advanced qualification in aeronautical engineering.
Eileen Collins
Eileen Collins is a retired NASA astronaut and US Air Force colonel. She was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle.
Mary Golda Ross
Mary Golda Ross was the first known Native American female engineer and the first female engineer in the history of Lockheed.
Sally Ride
Sally Ride was the first American woman in space and the earliest space traveler to have been recognized as LGBT.
Sunita Williams
Sunita Williams is an astronaut who formerly held the records for most spacewalks by a woman and most spacewalk time for a woman.
Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Tereshkova is the first and youngest woman to have flown in space with a solo mission.
Yvonne Brill
Yvonne Brill was responsible for inventing the hydrazine resistojet propulsion system that is used for spacecraft propulsion.
Asian and Pacific Islander Pioneers in Aerospace
Chiaki Mukai
Chiaki Mukai, a JAXA astronaut, was the first Japanese woman in space and the first Asian woman in space.
Ellison Onizuka
Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian American to reach space. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
Leah Hing
Leah Hing was the first Chinese American woman to earn her pilot's license, receiving it in 1934.
Li Xiaqing
Li Xiaqing was the first Chinese woman to be granted a civil aviation license in China and went on to co-founded China’s first civilian flying school.
Liu Yang
Liu Yang is an astronaut who served as a crew member on the space mission Shenzhou 9, becoming the first Chinese woman in space.
Kalpana Chawla
Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut and engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.
Jessica Cox
Jessica Cox, a Filipino-American, is the first person to pilot a plane with only her feet. In 2008, she became the first armless pilot.
Yi So-yeon
Yi So-yeon is a South Korean astronaut and biotechnologist who became the first Korean to fly in space.
Black Pioneers in Aerospace
Bernard A. Harris Jr.
Bernard A. Harris Jr. is the first African American to perform an extra-vehicular activity, during the second of his two Space Shuttle flights.
Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license.
Dorothy Vaughan
Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician at Langley Research Center, was the first African American woman to become a manager there.
Guion Bluford Jr.
Guion Bluford Jr. is a retired U.S. Air Force officer, fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut. He is the first African American to go to space.
Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson's calculations of orbital mechanics were critical to the success of U.S. crewed spaceflights.
Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison is the first African American woman to travel into space. She served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Mary Jackson
Mary Jackson, a mathematician and aerospace engineer at NACA and NASA, became NASA's first African American female engineer.
Victor J. Glover
Victor Glover, a Cal Poly alumnus, is a NASA astronaut. He was the first African American ISS Expedition crewmember to live on the ISS.
Hispanic and Latino Pioneers in Aerospace
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez is the first Cuban citizen, the first Latin American, and the first person of African descent to travel into Earth orbit.
Diana Trujillo
Diana Trujillo, a Colombian engineer at JPL, currently leads the engineering team responsible for the robotic arm of the Perseverance rover.
Ellen Ochoa
Ellen Ochoa is the first Hispanic woman to go to space and the first Hispanic director (and the second female director) of Johnson Space Center.
Félix Rigau Carrera
Félix Rigau Carrera was the first Puerto Rican and first Hispanic fighter pilot in the United States Marines.
Francisco Rubio
Francisco Rubio is a US Army helicopter pilot, flight surgeon, and NASA astronaut. He is the first Salvadoran American astronaut.
Jorge Chávez
Jorge Chávez, a Peruvian aviator, was the first person to fly across the Alps, but his plane crashed upon landing resulting in is death.
Michael López-Alegría
Michael López-Alegría is a Spanish-American astronaut and test pilot. He holds the second longest all-time EVA duration record.
Olga E. Custodio
Olga E. Custodio is the first female Hispanic U.S. military pilot and the first female Hispanic commercial airline captain of American Airlines.
Cal Poly Alumni in Aerospace
Burt Rutan
Burt Rutan graduated from Cal Poly in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. He is retired aerospace engineering and entrepreneur.
Christina Hernandez
Christina Hernandez graduated from Cal Poly in 2013 with a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering. She served as a Perseverance payload systems engineer.
Frederick Sturckow
Frederick Sturckow graduated from Cal Poly in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He is an engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former NASA astronaut, and commercial spacecraft pilot.
Gregory Chamitoff
Gregory Chamitoff graduated from Cal Poly in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He is an engineer and former NASA astronaut. Currently Chamitoff is Professor of Engineering Practice in the Aerospace Engineering Department at Texas A&M University.