Diana Trujillo is a Space Explorer and Aerospace Engineer currently serving as a Flight Director on the Mars Perseverance Mission, which is helping NASA determine if ancient life ever existed on the surface of Mars.
Born and raised in Colombia, Diana immigrated to the United States at the age of 17, coming with little knowledge of English and almost no money to her name, but also with the goal of pursuing her dream of working for NASA.
Today, Diana is living that dream. She has contributed to Human and Robotic Space Exploration missions including Cygnus International Space Station resupply vehicle, the Con-stellation Program, the Mars Curiosity rover, the Mars Perseverance rover, and the Mars Ingenuity helicopter.
In addition to her technical roles at NASA’s renowned Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Diana also created and hosted #JuntosPerseveramos, NASA’s first ever Spanish-language live broadcast of a Mars Landing, attracting a global audience of millions. She also started and hosted NASA’s Martes de Marte video series, providing Spanish-language updates of NASA’s Perseverance and Ingenuity missions.
Diana is a passionate advocate for diversity in STEM, having pushed for more inclusion of the Latin@ community in venues ranging from the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics to the educational program Plaza Sésamo (Sesame Street). Diana serves as an executive of the Brooke Owens Fellowship, an award-winning, highly competitive program that provides internship and mentorship to extraordinary undergraduate women seeking careers in aviation or space exploration; a member of the TECHNO-LOchicas campaign to raise awareness among young Latinas and their families about op-portunities and careers in technology; a member of the board of the Columbia Memorial Space Center, a science center open to the public and based in a predominantly Latin@ community; and a member of the board of the Children’s Center at Caltech, a center that is revolutionizing early child development education.
In 2017, Diana was named one of “Los 22 Más,” the 22 Colombians who best represent Colombia and all Colombians in the USA. In 2021, Diana was honored with the Cruz de Boyacá and named a Comendador of Orden de Boyacá by the President of Colombia, the highest honor Colombia awards to civilians.
Diana has been featured on CNN, Telemundo, Univision, The New Yorker, the BBC, and more. In 2016, her story was turned into a children’s science book, titled Mars Science Lab Engineer: Diana Trujillo.
