Puerto Rico adds another astronaut to NASA.
What's happening? Puerto Rican pilot Marcos Gabriel Berríos, 39, became this Tuesday the second Puerto Rican astronaut at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with the potential to become the first Puerto Rican to reach the Moon.
Berríos completed just over two years of training alongside 11 other candidates and now joins the group of astronauts who could be selected for the third Artemis mission, with the goal of landing on the Moon in 2028.
Planting a flag in space. Born in Tennessee to Puerto Rican parents and raised in Puerto Rico, Berríos had already logged 110 combat missions and 1,400 flight hours with the U.S. Air Force.
Berríos follows in the footsteps of the first Puerto Rican astronaut, Joseph Acabá Herrero, who carried the Puerto Rican flag to the International Space Station. Acabá currently serves as chief of NASA's Astronaut Office.
Ready for the Moon: Gerardo Morell, director of the NASA Consortium in Puerto Rico, said Berríos "has strong chances of being one of the four (astronauts) who would go to the Moon."
The Artemis 1 mission marked NASA's return to lunar orbit, while the second mission will aim to come within about 80 miles of the lunar surface. Once that is achieved, the four astronauts are expected to land on the Moon.
— ESA (@esa) November 23, 2022
The possibility of a Puerto Rican reaching the Moon represents "a milestone for Puerto Rican science," according to Mónica Feliú Mojer, director of Public Engagement in Science at Ciencia Puerto Rico.
It also brings to mind the poem by the great Juan Antonio Corretjer, "Boricua en la luna."
A few extra details: Marcos Berrios grew up in Guaynabo and enjoyed spending time with family and playing sports. His desire to be an astronaut came at a very early age.
His mother was a math teacher and the person who inspired him to love science and numbers.
His ambition at NASA is to fly a helicopter on Mars, because he loves helicopters.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
