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One of the hardships that I had to get

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through in order to get a good, quality

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education was to cross the border, every

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day, from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso, Texas.

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Because I have a dual citizenship, I was

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living in Mexico. Therefore, as a 16 year

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old, I had to wake up every day at 4 a.m.

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in the morning it order to go through

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customs, back and forth, everyday. My

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name is Gustavo Martinez and I work in

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the Liquid Engines System Branch here

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at Marshall Space Flight Center. My first

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memory of NASA as a kid was when my

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father took me to Johnson Space Center

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around my sophomore year of high

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school. They took us to see Building 9,

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which is called the mockup facility. Where

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they have a lot of mockups of the shuttle

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and the International Space Station. I

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remember, well, Johnson Space Center is

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where they train astronauts. So, it was

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very exciting. I was always interested in

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math and science. It was always the two

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subjects that I paid most attention in

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high school, or in middle school or in

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elementary school. I remember I was

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never really good at reading or, you

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know, Spanish. But, math, it was such

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a natural thing for me. One of my

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biggest inspirations was Mr. Ralph Shock,

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my chemistry teacher in Las Cruces,

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New Mexico. He introduced us to Carl

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Sagan and Stephen Hawking. He instilled

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the love for space and space travel and

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thanks to that I started researching

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about NASA and that’s how I really got

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hooked into space travel and propulsion

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and thanks to that I’m a propulsion

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engineer now. My most rewarding

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experience here at NASA has been

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being part of the team that is testing

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the RS-25 engines for the Space Launch

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System. It’s always exciting to see how

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everyone, or even me as an individual,

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can contribute to the journey to Mars.

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I would totally go on the journey to

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Mars. Its always been my dream to be

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an astronaut. I actually applied to the

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astronaut corps a couple years ago and

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I am planning to apply again, for sure.

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Daniel Olivas, the astronaut, is a good

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example of what I would like to

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become. He is a role model to me.

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Being of Hispanic descent, he represents

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what a lot of Hispanic-descent people

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in the STEM fields would like to become.

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I’m very thankful for my mother. I was

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raised in a single-parent household.

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And, thanks to that, my mother was

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able to teach me the values of hard

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work and resilience. And I’m the person

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who I am right now thanks to her. As a

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first generation American of Hispanic

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descent, of Mexican descent, Hispanic

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Heritage Month means to me the

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recognition of all the hard work and

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all the successes that Hispanic Heritage

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people have had here in the U.S. My

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advice for anyone that wants to pursue

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a STEM career would be to never give

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up. It’s always great to be able to block