“It’s important to show that at NASA we have very strong role models for those kids who might dream of being an astronaut or working in STEM. [las disciplinas académicas de ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas]Viñas says in conversation with Univision Noticias.
“I hope that in the future the number of Hispanics at NASA will increase. I think we do better now to represent them and their jobs,” said Viñas, who emphasizes that although NASA is a US agency, it has many partners. . in the Spanish-speaking world.
Born in Barcelona in 1977, this Spaniard worked as a veterinarian for two years before deciding to change course and switch to journalism. After earning a master’s degree from the University of California-Santa Cruz with a scholarship, he plunged into scientific information with an internship at SETI (the research center looking for signs of alien life) that opened the doors to the American Geophysical Union and later. , in 2011, to NASA.
“I hope we become more diverse over time. If you want scientific advancement, you have to have very different perspectives. If we want to explain our science to other cultures, we need people who understand how that culture works,” says he. .
Children of Hispanic descent who dream of becoming an astronaut when they grow up will have an easier time identifying with Spanish-speaking models. “I am not the first in this position. What was not there is that someone coordinated everything, ”he says. “It seemed to me that it had a lot more potential”. In 2019, it launched a pilot project to form a communication team in Spanish, and the idea came out in 2020.
At NASA, he notes, there is “a shift in the approach to diversity.” What will happen? For now, a website in spanish centralized which is expected to be ready this year and will help raise awareness of the role of Hispanics in NASA projects. At the moment, the information in Spanish is spread over several pages.
Viñas, who, like 90% of NASA’s workforce since March last year, when the pandemic broke out, has been working from home, does not expect any major changes to the agency with the new administration as, according to what it highlights, it is going to be a Organization that has the support of both parties. In addition, projects and missions often span many years.
Viñas, however, did not go unnoticed two details of last January’s inauguration: the moonstone that Biden placed in the Oval Office (a “reminder of the ambition and achievements of the previous residents,” said Biden, as well as the power to ask citizens to go above and beyond themselves). And Kamala Harris’s statements on January 20: “We look at the moon and then put our flag on it.”
These are some of the special missions NASA is celebrating this year:
