Rodolfo Neri Vela
Rodolfo Neri Vela is a Mexican scientist and astronaut who flew aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission in the year 1985. He is the only Mexican, and the second Latin American to have traveled to space.Personal
Neri was born in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico. He is a professor for the Telecommunications Department in the Electrical Engineering Division of the Engineering Faculty, at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He is of Spanish and Italian ancestry.Education
Neri was a High School student at Escuela Nacional Preparatoria 2. Neri received a bachelor's degree in mechanical and electrical engineering, National Autonomous University of Mexico 1975, and received a master's degree in science, specialized in telecommunications systems, in 1976 from the University of Essex, England. Neri then received a doctorate degree in electromagnetic radiation from the University of Birmingham in 1979 and performed one year of postdoctoral research in waveguides at the University of Birmingham.Career
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, United States; The Institution of Electrical Engineers, UK; Asociación Mexicana de Ingenieros en Comunicaciones Eléctricas y Electrónicas, Mexico; and Colegio de Ingenieros Mecánicos y Electricistas, Mexico.
Neri has worked as an Institute of Electrical Research, Mexico, in the Radiocommunications Group, doing research and system planning on antenna theory and design, satellite communications systems, and Earth station technology.
He is currently also a full-time researcher at the Electric Engineering department of the Faculty of Engineering at UNAM.
In 2016 debuted as a voice actor in the movie Finding Dory as the voice intercom announcer for the Institute PA system, in the Latin dubbing; in the English dub this role is performed by Sigourney Weaver.Spaceflight
Vgf
Neri was a Payload Specialist aboard the STS-61-B Atlantis mission, from. STS-61B launched at night from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California. During the mission the crew deployed the MORELOS-B, AUSSATT II, and SATCOM K-2 communications satellites, conducted two six-hour spacewalks to demonstrate space station construction techniques with the EASE/ACCESS experiments, operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis experiment for McDonnell Douglas and a Getaway Special container for Telesat, Canada, conducted several Mexican Payload Specialists Experiments for the Mexican government, and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot.
At mission conclusion, Neri had traveled 2.4 million miles in 108 Earth orbits, and logged over 165 hours in space.
