NANCY:
I had the honor of researching Joseph Michael Acabá Herrero, nickname Joe, the first person of Puerto Rican descent to become a NASA astronaut. His resume is impressive, but first, a little history on his life. We’ll do this in timeline form.
Joe was born May 17, 1967, in Inglewood, California, which is in the LA area. His parents, Ralph and Elsie Acabá, were originally from Hatillo, Puerto Rico, which is along the north coast, not far from Arecibo. Fun facts: most Puerto Ricans know that Hatillo is famous for its Festival de las Máscaras, but it was a surprise to me that it is also the dairy capital of Puerto Rico! Hatillo is the Wisconsin of PR!
Anyway, when he was still a kid, they moved to Anaheim, which is in Orange County, home of Disneyland. He was great at math and science and loved to read science fiction. In high school he became a certified scuba diver, which led to an interest in geology. He was also intrigued by outer space after watching footage of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon (which happened in July of 1969, when Joe was just 2 years old). Not a surprise that he graduated from Esperanza High School, Class of 1985, with honors.
He then went to the University of California - Santa Barbara and graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology. Two years later, in 1992, he earned a Master of Science in Geology from the University of Arizona.
During his college years, Joe joined the US Marine Corps Reserve and served for six years, making sergeant.
Around 1992 to 1994, I’m not sure the exact time, but sometime after grad school, Joe got a job as a Hydrogeologist (this has to do with groundwater and how water affects soil and rocks). This was with an environmental consulting firm in LA. He worked mainly on Superfund sites (those polluted areas contaminated with hazardous waste).
1994-1996: Joe joined the Peace Corps and moved to the Dominican Republic. His role was in environmental education. He taught over 300 teachers how to teach!
After this, Joe stayed in the Caribbean. He got a job in the Bahamas, as the Island Manager for the Caribbean Marine Research Center. He was involved in marine science and geology.
At some point Joe moved to Florida. His new job, in Vero Beach, was as a Shoreline Revegetation Coordinator. I’ve never even heard of these jobs!
A year into that job, he decided he wanted to teach. He landed at Melbourne High School, which is close to Port Canaveral.
Then he moved about 3 hours northwest, to Dunnellon, Florida, to teach 7th grade math. There, he and another teacher started a Science Center for students interested in science and research.
During his third year at Dunnellon, Joe learned about the Educator Astronaut program at NASA and applied to get in.
May 6, 2004: Joe was officially selected by NASA to join the NASA Astronaut Training Group 19 (19 meaning the 19th group of astronauts). His designation was Educator Mission Specialist.
February 10, 2006: Joe completed his intensive astronaut training and was assigned to the Hardware Integration Team in the International Space Station division.
He was also part of the Space Shuttle Branch. He worked on takeoff and landing prep.
March 2008, Joe traveled to Puerto Rico and visited young students at the Parque de las Ciencias Luís A. Ferré (Luis A. Ferré Science Park) in Bayamón (suburb of San Juan) and was honored by the Senate of Puerto Rico. As he should be.
March 15 to March 28, 2009: Joe’s first space flight! He was on board the space shuttle Discovery on a mission to deliver a power supply system to the ISS. He took a Puerto Rican flag with him and requested that the crew be awakened on the 5th day, March 19, to the song "Que Bonita Bandera!”
June 2009: Joe spent a week in Puerto Rico and got to interact with around 10,000 people, most of them schoolchildren. The Governor at the time, Luis Fortuño, honored him with a public proclamation. It’s great how he’s getting so much public recognition and getting kids excited about science and space!
May 15 to September 17, 2012: Joe participates in his 2nd mission to the ISS.
2012: Caras Magazine (which is an international magazine geared towards females that also profiles celebrities and notable people – published in Portuguese and Spanish in South America) named Joe one of the most influential and exciting Puerto Ricans of 2012.
In 2013, Joe received an honorary doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, and the Ana G. Mendez University System Presidential Medal.
2015: Joe earned a Master of Education, Curriculum, and Instruction from Texas Tech University.
In November 2016, Joe’s name was inscribed on the American Astronaut Wall of Fame in Winslow, Arizona - which we actually drove through on our last road trip in 2022 but sorry to say I wasn’t aware of this, so we didn’t know to stop and look for it!
September 12, 2017 to February 28, 2018: Joe takes his 3rd trip to the International Space Station. During this trip, the vehicle passed over Puerto Rico – something he had especially been looking forward to. He had arrived at the ISS a few days before Hurricane Maria (9/16) and noticed that the island was hard to see at night due to all the power outages. But on the bright side, no pun intended, he chatted with students there via Skype, answering all their questions! Among other things he tells them the food in space is good, but nothing compared to Puerto Rican food. And did you know that astronauts recycle their urine into drinking water?
September 2019: Joe took part in a rigorous training program inside a complex cave system in Europe. The experience is supposed to simulate exploration of another planet.
Joe has spent a total of 306 days and 34 minutes in space, and in that time logged 19 hours and 46 minutes outside the vehicle, i.e., spacewalking. Basically, his role was to help build and upgrade the International Space Station. In 2012, while at the ISS, he greeted a visiting resupply spacecraft called Dragon. Dragon is made by SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk. You may have heard of him.
BETWEEN SPACE MISSIONS:
Joe’s roles included:
*Branch Chief of International Space Station Operations, which is responsible for mission prep and on-orbit support of space station crews.
*Director of Operations in Star City, Russia (an area about an hour outside Moscow)
*Chief of the Vehicle Integration Test Office.
This is what I found and apologies if there are any other roles, awards or accomplishments I missed!
The latest is this:
In February this year (2023 in case you’re listening in the future) Joe was appointed Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. He’s the first Hispanic to hold this job!!! As described by spaceref.com: “In his new role, Acaba will be responsible for managing astronaut resources and operations. He also will help develop astronaut flight crew operation concepts and make crew assignments for future spaceflight missions…”
YOVANY:
White Tiger is the first Puerto Rican superhero to become part of the Marvel Universe. Created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist George Perez (a Boricua) in 1975, the character is a guy named Hector Ayala, born in San Juan and going to school at the fictional Empire State University in NYC. The way he got his powers was he discovered tiger amulets that were formerly worn by the Sons of the Tiger, who were three friends and martial arts students, another Marvel comic. If he wore all three amulets, he transformed into the White Tiger, giving him incredible strength and nearly superhuman martial arts skill.
Just a little background on his character. Like every superhero, he fought random bad guys, as well as members of the Corporation crime cartel. He fought alongside other heroes like Spiderman, Daredevil and Iron Fist, once even fighting Spider Man after some impersonation confusion.
Ayala’s secret identity was later publicly exposed in a battle with the villainous Lightmaster. He was later gunned down by Gideon Mace and nearly killed. He underwent surgery to remove the bullets and recovered. Having gained an unhealthy psychological and physical addiction to the tiger amulets, Hector abandoned his identity as the White Tiger. He gave the amulets to a private detective nicknamed Blackbyrd, who returned them to the Sons of the Tiger. Hector then moved out west with his girlfriend Holly Gillis.
After a while, Hector started to miss fighting off evildoers and he decided once again to become the White Tiger. Soon after, Hector was wrongly accused of murder and convicted despite the efforts of his lawyer, Matt Murdock (a.k.a. Daredevil). Ayala was shot dead trying to escape, shortly before evidence emerged that would wind up proving his innocence.
Subsequent White Tigers are:
2nd White Tiger: an actual, literal tigress who turned into an Indian woman and fought crime.
3rd WT: Kevin “Kasper” Cole (Marvel and alliteration…)
4th WT: Angela Del Toro, Hector’s niece
5th WT: Ava Ayala, Hector’s youngest sister
Critical reception and influence
Regarding the introduction of the character, Ralph Macchio stated “in the '70s, it was quite an event to introduce a Hispanic superhero, and Hector Ayala, the White Tiger, was at the forefront.” Javier Hernández, cartoonist and co-founder of the Latino Comic Export, cites Hector Ayala as the first superhero that he identified with as a Latin American. Authors Barbara F. Tobolowsky and Pauline J. Reynolds emphasized that the inclusion of Ayala and other characters in The Amazing Spider-Man made the publication more diverse, but that it still tapped into “fearful white stereotypes” when it came to protest storylines. (I did not delve deeper into this because frankly I’m tired of politics, so … but we can imagine what it must have been like in the 70s)
In 2016, there was a short film entitled White Tiger, and actor Jon Huertas (This is Us and Castle, among other roles) played Hector Ayala. The actor stated that White Tiger is his favorite Marvel character and the one he’s always related to the most, arguing that the project was born from a necessity for someone to develop an adult [Hispanic] male comic character. It’s also been said that White Tiger holds an integral and iconic status in comic book history, filling the void of Latino children wondering where all the Latinos were in their comics. Like, where are we?
In retrospect, comic author and artist J. Gonzo considers White Tiger's introduction important as it marked the appearance of a complex Latin American character, but noted that in subsequent appearances Marvel pushed the character to the background and ultimately failed to truly bring him to the mainstream, a pattern that was repeated with other Hispanic superheroes.
Frederick Luis Aldama, author of Teaching comics by and about Latinos/as, says that the introduction of the White Tiger was the moment Latino superheroes were given more complexity. He also lists him among the Latin American superheroes who were “slipstreamed”, which is the opposite of going mainstream.
As the first Latin American superhero to make it to the mainstream of American comics, the character of Ayala has been the focus of investigation concerning the representation of Hispanics in the media. One example is Luis Saenz De Viguera Erkiaga’s Tigre Blanco, héroe del Barrio!: Living and Dying Latina/o in a Superhero World, where the author examines the sociological context of Puerto Ricans in New York during the 1970s, how they were marginalized as a group and how Hollywood represented them as negative stereotypes. The characterization of Ayala before becoming White Tiger does not escape these clichés, as its internal monologue and vocal expressions are carried out bilingually and he is depicted as “passive” and “the useless son [of] hard working, humble Puerto Ricans [who] spends his time] loitering in dark alleys by himself.”
Despite this, the tendency to speak in “Spanglish” turned the character into a “pioneer for future Latina/o superheroes”. Ultimately, Saenz considers this characterization as failing to accurately reflect the Nuyorican community and as problematic, since it tries to be “a positive representation of minorities, in spite of all these problems [thus reaffirming] hegemonic views on Puerto Ricans.” (I had to look up the word “hegemonic”...it means ruling or dominant in a political or social context. He identifies the post-mortem depictions of the character as an attempt to turn this depiction to that of “a role model for Latina/o characters [and a] an honorable, inspirational figure“ in an effort to veer away from the initial stereotype and re-imagine it from current standards.
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Acaba
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/joseph-m-acaba/biography
https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/astronaut-and-returned-peace-corps-volunteer-joe-acaba-compares-peace-corps-service-to-living-in-space/#:~:text=Joe%20Acaba%20served%20as%20a,an%20environmental%20education%20awareness%20promoter.
https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/jun/HQ_04178_minority_feature_acaba.html
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/newsletters/lpib/new/nasas-joe-acaba-to-serve-as-agencys-chief-astronaut/
https://spaceref.com/science-and-exploration/joe-acaba-is-nasas-new-chief-astronaut/
https://transportationhistory.org/2019/10/10/national-hispanic-heritage-month-joseph-acaba-astronaut/
https://www.puertoricotravel.guide/blog/nasa-astronaut-joe-acaba/
https://repeatingislands.com/2009/06/04/puerto-rico-welcomes-astronaut-joseph-acaba-herrero/
https://repeatingislands.com/2018/01/14/puerto-rican-astronaut-reaches-out-to-islands-schoolkids/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Tiger_(comics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Tiger_(Hector_Ayala)#:~:text=White%20Tiger%20(Hector%20Ayala)%20is,and%20Marvel's%20first%20Hispanic%20superhero.