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This is like the most awesome mission ever…
coolest telescope ever…

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I’m Scarlin Hernandez…

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I work for the Space Telescope Science Institute
in Baltimore, MD and I am a spacecraft engineer

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for the James Webb Space Telescope mission.

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A spacecraft engineer develops procedures
that are going to be executed onboard…

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so anything that the spacecraft is going to
do… launch procedures, how we’re going

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to deploy the spacecraft once it’s up in
space, how it’s going to unfold… normal

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operations of the telescope… for the 10-year-long
mission.

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Looking back at it.. to have gotten to where
I am because I’ve been through a lot of

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adversity…

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I chose to look beyond that and kind of empower
myself.

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I’m from the Dominican Republic.

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I was born there and I came to the United
States when I was 4 years old.

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In my culture, a lot of the men have like
a macho man attitude and I kind of grew up

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around that.

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My mother taught me that you should always
be independent.

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She triumphed through life and, and that stuck
with me.

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I get to now mentor interns from my alma mater.

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I really enjoy working with them and kind
of tutoring students that came along after

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me.

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I established a women empowerment program
here at the institute to help give some of

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the women a voice and to help inspire them
and empower each other because they really

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feel that there is power in numbers.

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I want to be able to motivate people and tell
them they can do it.

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They can go after their dream.

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Sometimes they just need to see that one person
who kind of fought all of the odds.

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Never imagined this… never…

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I mean… came from a third world country…