." From my earliest childhood, air travel had actually always captivated me. I endured in the boonies and the fields, so I didn't have next-door neighbors to go and also have fun with. If I wasn't working, I was left to my personal gadgets, and typically, I would certainly just be astounded by the wild animals as well as especially, the raptorial birds that I would certainly observe." To me, they exemplified a liberty of some kind or even yet another. These birds as well as the viewpoint they possess-- they can consume so much. So, from that point on, I understood I wanted to be actually involved in trip and also aeronautics." I [enjoyed] all traits trip, all factors spaceflight. I couldn't obtain enough of it. I became a serious visitor, whereas in the past, I wasn't a lot of a reader. I could not acquire enough material to review my heroes coming from flight and also space. They became my role models and also the road that they took entailed, at some time or another, a fairly rigorous education and learning as well as commitment to accomplish properly academically, actually, or athletically. Thus, I tossed on my own into that whole entire sort of way of thinking." When I was working with the Air Force, I was able to fly and deal with airplane that I would hope around, looking at in the publications Air travel Week and also Room Technology. Right here they are, ideal before me." ... Therefore, my career has actually been as close as feasible to that of an air travel test developer. And after that, right on the heels of being actually spellbinded through atmospherical trip, functioning in individual spaceflight has placed me over the Moon.".-- Doctor Donald Mendoza, Chief Engineer, NASA Design & Safety And Security Center, NASA's Ames .Image Credit History: NASA/Dominic HartInterviewer: NASA/Thalia Patrinos.Look at several of our other Faces of NASA.