." From my earliest youth, air travel had constantly captivated me. I lived out in the boonies and the farmlands, so I really did not possess neighbors to go as well as play with. If I wasn't functioning, I was actually delegated my own units, as well as commonly, I would only be actually mesmerized by the creatures and specifically, the birds of prey that I would certainly view." To me, they embodied a flexibility of some kind or an additional. These birds and the sight they possess-- they may take in so much. So, from that factor on, I understood I wanted to be actually associated with air travel as well as aviation." I [delighted in] all traits flight, all things spaceflight. I couldn't obtain good enough of it. I ended up being a devoted audience, whereas previously, I wasn't a lot of a viewers. I couldn't acquire sufficient product to read about my heroes coming from trip and also room. They became my role models and also the course that they took entailed, eventually or one more, a pretty strenuous education and learning and devotion to carry out properly academically, actually, or athletically. Therefore, I threw on my own into that entire kind of attitude." When I was helping the Aviation service, I was able to fly and work on airplane that I would certainly dream approximately, considering in the magazines Flying Week and also Space Innovation. Below they are, appropriate in front of me." ... Therefore, my profession has actually been actually as close as possible to that of a trip test engineer. And after that, exactly on the heels of being actually spellbinded through atmospheric air travel, doing work in human spaceflight has actually put me over the Moon.".-- Doctor Donald Mendoza, Principal Designer, NASA Design & Protection Center, NASA's Ames .Graphic Credit: NASA/Dominic HartInterviewer: NASA/Thalia Patrinos.Look into a few of our other Images of NASA.