As the space Shuttle Atlantis soared in space from the Kennedy Center and in front of an 750,000 spectators this afternoon, HS-News travels down memory land to remember Hispanic contribution to the 30-year NASA program. Latino astronauts have become pioneers for the entire community, breaking barriers and inspiring achievement in science and technology.

Over the 30 years and 135 launches there have been many Hispanics and Latinos involved as support staff, engineers and of course as astronauts here are a few of them: