Rodolfo Neri Vela became Mexico’s first astronaut during a joint NASA/European Space Agency mission in 1985. He spent 165 hours in outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, helping to place in orbit a Mexican satellite called Morelos. STS-61B launched at night from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Neri Vela flew on the crew of STS-61-B/Atlantis (November 26 to December 3, 1985). During the mission, Vela also conducted several experiments for the Mexican government and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot.
“From space, I see myself as one more person among the millions and millions who loved, live, and will live on Earth,” he famously said.”Inevitably, this makes one think about our existence and the way in which we should live to enjoy, to share, our short lives as fully as possible.”
Neri Vela was born in Chilpancingo, in the state of Guerrero, Mexico on February 19, 1952. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic/Mechanical Engineering, with specialization in communications technology, from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National University of Mexico) or UNAM. In 1976, he earned a Master of Science degree, specializing in telecommunications systems from the University of Essex, England. He received a Ph.D. in electromagnetic radiation from the University of Birmingham, England in 1979, then conducted a year of postdoctoral research in waveguides there.
Neri Vela returned to Mexico, working as an engineer, director of projects, adviser, and professor in the Institute of Electrical Investigations, the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation, the Secretariat of the National Defense, and several museums of science and technology.
From 1989 to 1990, Neri Vela helped plan a portion of the International Space Station for the European Space Agency while working in Holland.
Dr. Neri Vela has since worked at the Institute of Electrical Research, Mexico, doing research and system planning on antennas and satellite communications systems. He has also been head of the Department of Planning and Engineering of the Morelos Satellite Program at the Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transportation and is now a professor in the faculty of engineering of the UNAM.
Neri Vela has published many articles and books. They include Estaciones Espaciales Habitadas (Inhabited Space Stations), El Universo del Hombre y Su Sistema Solar (Man’s Universe and Solar System), and Vuelta al Mundo en Noventa Minutos (Around the World in Ninety Minutes).
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