Full Version: First Filipina In Space
FEATURE
True-blue Filipina trains
to be a cosmonaut
Posted: 2:38 AM (Manila Time) | Dec. 14, 2003
By Volt Contreras
Inquirer News Service
Ultimate dream
WHEN Irene Mora says she loves her mother country, she isn't just paying lip service. Eleven years ago, she actualized it by opting to give up her American citizenship and becoming a Filipino citizen.
Now at 32, Mora dreams of flying to outer space, and taking with her the Philippine flag.
This adventurous pilot, who studied in a commercial flying school in Florida, will undergo space flight training in a Russian facility next year. She will be the first Filipino to train for space travel.
Mora's ultimate dream is to fly to outer space with a patch of the Philippine flag on her space suit, and to take a picture from up there of her native archipelago for all her fellow crew members to see.
How close is she to that dream?
"We're getting there. Just be patient," she smiled.
Mora was born in Sacramento, California, but she went to school both in the US and in her family's hometown of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro province. She finished an electrical engineering course at the Kyushu University in Japan where she was a scholar.
She is currently in Manila, on vacation from her job as a pilot of the Royal Fleet, a private aircraft service in Dubai.
She is using the time to meet up with colleagues from the Philippine Coast Guard, which she joined last year as a reserve pilot for rescue operations.
"It has always been my dream to travel to space, and I would be very proud to bring an honor like this to my country," Mora told the Inquirer last Wednesday.
"It would also help me show Filipinos that they can do anything as long they put their heart and soul into it," she said.
"It's a good thing to dream big. For even if ultimately you don't accomplish the dream, you will have a much more fulfilling life along the way than if you just give up even before you start."
Becoming truly Filipino
Before she began dreaming of space travel, Mora had already performed a soaring act of love for Motherland by giving up her American citizenship and legally becoming a Filipino.
"It's just that I love the Philippines," she said, when asked why she decided to switch citizenships. "There's nothing wrong with being American. All people want to go (to America), right?"
"I would not exactly call it a 'decision.' It was something in my system, in my heart: that I'm a Filipino, that I needed to go back to where my parents were," Mora said. "Perhaps if (my parents) were Indian, I would go back to India. If they were Chinese, I would have gone back to China."
Her parents, Edna and Benito Jr., now reside in Mindoro. So do Mora's four siblings, all natural-born Filipino citizens. Benito is a retired businessman.
True-blue Filipina trains
to be a cosmonaut
Posted: 2:38 AM (Manila Time) | Dec. 14, 2003
By Volt Contreras
Inquirer News Service
Ultimate dream
WHEN Irene Mora says she loves her mother country, she isn't just paying lip service. Eleven years ago, she actualized it by opting to give up her American citizenship and becoming a Filipino citizen.
Now at 32, Mora dreams of flying to outer space, and taking with her the Philippine flag.
This adventurous pilot, who studied in a commercial flying school in Florida, will undergo space flight training in a Russian facility next year. She will be the first Filipino to train for space travel.
Mora's ultimate dream is to fly to outer space with a patch of the Philippine flag on her space suit, and to take a picture from up there of her native archipelago for all her fellow crew members to see.
How close is she to that dream?
"We're getting there. Just be patient," she smiled.
Mora was born in Sacramento, California, but she went to school both in the US and in her family's hometown of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro province. She finished an electrical engineering course at the Kyushu University in Japan where she was a scholar.
She is currently in Manila, on vacation from her job as a pilot of the Royal Fleet, a private aircraft service in Dubai.
She is using the time to meet up with colleagues from the Philippine Coast Guard, which she joined last year as a reserve pilot for rescue operations.
"It has always been my dream to travel to space, and I would be very proud to bring an honor like this to my country," Mora told the Inquirer last Wednesday.
"It would also help me show Filipinos that they can do anything as long they put their heart and soul into it," she said.
"It's a good thing to dream big. For even if ultimately you don't accomplish the dream, you will have a much more fulfilling life along the way than if you just give up even before you start."
Becoming truly Filipino
Before she began dreaming of space travel, Mora had already performed a soaring act of love for Motherland by giving up her American citizenship and legally becoming a Filipino.
"It's just that I love the Philippines," she said, when asked why she decided to switch citizenships. "There's nothing wrong with being American. All people want to go (to America), right?"
"I would not exactly call it a 'decision.' It was something in my system, in my heart: that I'm a Filipino, that I needed to go back to where my parents were," Mora said. "Perhaps if (my parents) were Indian, I would go back to India. If they were Chinese, I would have gone back to China."
Her parents, Edna and Benito Jr., now reside in Mindoro. So do Mora's four siblings, all natural-born Filipino citizens. Benito is a retired businessman.
I hope that she could go outer space!
wow!!!! Filipinos are making so many strides!!!!
i hope she does make it into space sucessfully and returns home just as well!!!!
she is also a very pretty woman!
i hope she does make it into space sucessfully and returns home just as well!!!!
she is also a very pretty woman!
Thats awesome!!!
Like the teacher in the province of Iloilo which a minor palnetary system was named after a teacher named Biyo!
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