Franklin Chang-Diaz

Franklin Ramón ChangDíaz born April 5 1950 San José Costa Rica is an American mechanical engineer physicist and former NASA astronaut He is the sole founder and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company as well as a member of the Cummins board of directors He became an American citizen in 1977 He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions tying the record as of 2021 for the most spaceflights a record set two months earlier by Jerry L Ross He was the third Latin American but the first Latin American immigrant NASA Astronaut selected to go into space ChangDíaz is a member of the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame