." Coming from my earliest youth, trip had regularly astounded me. I survived in the boonies and also the farmlands, so I didn't have neighbors to go as well as enjoy with. If I had not been working, I was left to my own tools, and also often, I would certainly just be actually astounded due to the animals and also in particular, the predators that I would find." To me, they embodied a flexibility of some kind or even one more. These birds and also the sight they possess-- they may take in so much. So, from that factor on, I understood I wished to be involved in air travel as well as aeronautics." I [appreciated] all points trip, all factors spaceflight. I could not get enough of it. I came to be a serious viewers, whereas in the past, I wasn't a lot of an audience. I couldn't obtain sufficient product to read about my heroes from flight as well as space. They became my good example and also the pathway that they took involved, at some time or one more, a rather rigorous education and learning and devotion to doing effectively academically, actually, or athletically. Therefore, I tossed on my own in to that entire form of way of thinking." When I was working for the Aviation service, I managed to fly and deal with plane that I would certainly hope approximately, checking out in the publications Flying Full week and Area Technology. Listed here they are, appropriate in front of me." ... Thus, my job has actually been actually as close as possible to that of a trip test engineer. And after that, exactly on the heels of being spellbinded by atmospherical air travel, working in individual spaceflight has placed me over the Moon.".-- Doctor Donald Mendoza, Main Developer, NASA Design & Safety And Security Facility, NASA's Ames Research Center.Photo Credit Report: NASA/Dominic HartInterviewer: NASA/Thalia Patrinos.Browse through a few of our other Faces of NASA.