Sandra Cauffman

It was a long road to Cape Canaveral, but these young Costa Ricans are just getting started.

You've heard of Franklin Chang and Sandra Cauffman, but Costa Rica has sent other talents to NASA as well. Listen in on our chat with three Tico rockstar scientists.

Six high-schoolers and their students thought the grand prize of the contest they had won was attending a prestigious San José conference, but NASA deputy project director, Costa Rican Sandra Cauffman, had a surprise up her sleeve.

Young Costa Ricans looking for a role model in scientific achievement need look no further than Sandra Cauffman. After what she has described as a difficult childhood in the Hatillo neighborhood of San José as the child of a single mother, Cauffman went on to become one of NASA’s most renowned engineers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – NASA's MAVEN spacecraft began orbiting Mars on Sunday, on a mission to study how the Red Planet's climate changed over time from warm and wet to cold and dry.

The Tico Times chats with Sandra Cauffman, the deputy project manager for NASA's MAVEN satellite mission to Mars.