Origins & Early Life

Franklin Ramon Chang-Díaz (born April 5, 1950) is a Costa Rican which whom became 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 a U. S.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

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, and the first Latin American immigrant NASA astronaut selected to go into space. Chang-Díaz is a member of NASA's Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Franklin Chang-Díaz was born in San José, Costa Rica on April 5, 1950, to Ramón Ángel Chang Morales, an oil worker whose own father fled from China during the Boxer Rebellion and María Eugenia Díaz Romero. One of six children, his brothers and sisters still reside in Costa Rica. His two eldest daughters with his ex-wife Candice Chang, include Sonia Rosa, who was a member of the Massachusetts Senate until 2023. He married Dr. Peggy Marguerite Doncaster (née Stafford, of Alexandria, Louisiana), in the United States, on December 17, 1984. They...

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

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• Alfred Lunt — Historical peer (Died in 1977) (1977): Esteemed American actor, celebrated for his stage partnership with Lynn Fontanne.
• Abdul Qadeer Khan — Historical peer (Died in 2021) (2021): Pakistani nuclear physicist, known as the 'father of Pakistan's atomic weapons program'
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