The selection of next mexican astronaut who will travel to space will be the responsibility of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (POT), according to the president of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
López Obrador gave more details about his recent meeting at the National Palace with Bill Nelson, administrator of the POT, where the space agency suggested sending a Mexican representative on its next mission to space. In this context, it was proposed Katya Echazarreta due to her experience, being the first Mexican woman to make such a journey.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador pointed out that:
It was decided that it would be Mexican, they proposed it and we proposed Katya, but they are going to decide, nothing more than Katya has stood out a lot and they know it.
During the meeting with Bill Nelson, an important recognition was made of Mexican astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela, who was the first Mexican to orbit the Earth. Nelson shared with the president that he trained with Neri Vela, remembering the moment when he took tortillas to space, being a practical food to consume on missions due to their ease of handling in zero gravity.
In that sense, López Obrador expressed the following:
Neri is an example, he is recognized; The director of NASA tells me that he was a colleague of his, they trained together and he is the one who tells me that the Mexican astronaut, among other things because he is also very recognized technically and scientifically, was the one who proposed to him about the tortillas (…) they put the tortilla and the food fit perfectly, a taco.
López Obrador recognized the high level of admiration that NASA has towards Mexico, which was reflected in the proposal to include a Mexican astronaut in an upcoming mission to space.
After the meeting, astronaut Neri Vela expressed his opinion that the next Mexican representative on a space mission should be selected through a serious process and not simply by direct appointment.
