Chang Fulfills Dream of Being A Fireman
• Former NASA astronaut was named honourary fireman

Franklin Ramón Chang-Díaz, the Costa Rican engineer, physicist and former NASA astronaut can add another job to his resume, and the fulfillment of a dream, that of fireman.



The veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, record holder as of 2008 for the most spaceflights (a record he shares with Jerry L. Ross) was name Honourary Fireman by Cuerpo de Bomberos.

Chang now can add his fireman helmet next to his astronaut helmet, as he becomes a permanent member of he respectable Costa Rican institution.

Firefighting is not new to Chang, he got first hand fighting experience aboard the space shuttle, where on several missions he had to fight fire as related in stories by the former astronaut during the naming ceremony.

Accompanying Chang at the ceremony was his mother, María Eugenia Díaz Romero.

The honourary title is a fulfillment of a dream for Change, another milestone in the life of this outstanding Costa Rican who is currently working on the plasma engine project (VASIMI) that will allow travel of greater distances in space.

Born Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz in San José, Costa Rica on 5 April 1950 to a father of Chinese descent, Ramón Angel Chang Morales (born 1919), an oil worker whose own father fled China during the Boxer Rebellion and his mother, a Costa Rican, was born in 1927.

One of six children, he has a younger sister, Sonia Rosa (born December 1952), and his mother, brothers, and sisters live in Costa Rica. His elder daughters are Jean Elizabeth (born December 1973), and Sonia Rosa (born March 1978). He married Peggy Marguerite Doncaster in the United States on 17 December 1984 and his younger daughters are Lidia Aurora (born March 1988) and Miranda Karina (July 1995),[7] both born in Houston, Texas.

He graduated from Colegio de La Salle in San José in November 1967, then moved to the United States to finish his high school education at Hartford Public High School in Connecticut, in 1969. He went on to attend the University of Connecticut, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and joined the federal TRIO Student Support Services program in 1973. He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a Doctor of Plasma Physics in applied plasma physics in 1977. For his graduate research at MIT, Chang-Díaz worked in the field of fusion technology and plasma-based rocket propulsion.

Chang was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1980 and first flew aboard STS-61-C in 1986. Subsequent missions included STS-34 (1989), STS-46 (1992), STS-60 (1994), STS-75 (1996), STS-91 (1998), and STS-111 (2002). During STS-111, he performed three EVAs with Philippe Perrin as part of the construction of the International Space Station. He was also director of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center from 1993 to 2005. Chang-Díaz retired from NASA in 2005.

After leaving NASA, Changz set up the Ad Astra Rocket Company (located in Guancaste), which became dedicated to the development of advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology. Years of research and development have produced the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), an electrical propulsion device for use in space.[13] With a flexible mode of operation, the rocket can achieve very high exhaust speeds, and even has the theoretical capability to take a manned rocket to Mars in 39 days.

Chang also is active in environmental protection and raising awareness about climate change, notably in his role in Odyssey 2050 The Movie in which he encourages young people to get motivated about environmental issues.

Franklin Chang-Díaz was inducted into the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 5th, 2012 in a ceremony that took place the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex. Also, due to his career and scientific success, he has been decorated multiple times in Costa Rica and named Honour Citizen by the national legislature. The Costa Rican National High Technology Center (CeNAT), among other institutions, is named after him.