page_title: Franklin Chang Díaz
section_title: Post-NASA career
hierarchical_section_title: Franklin Chang Díaz / Post-NASA career
caption_attribution_description: English: Dr. Franklin Chang with the students after the scenes were shot in Ad Astra Rocket Company.
context_page_description: Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz is a Costa Rican American mechanical engineer, physicist, former NASA astronaut. He is the founder and current CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company as well as a member of Cummins' board of directors. He became an American citizen in 1977. He is of Costa Rican Spanish and Chinese descent.
  He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, tying the record, as of 2018 for the most spaceflights. He was the third Latin American, but the first Latin American immigrant NASA Astronaut selected to go into space. Chang Díaz is a member of the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame.
context_section_description: After leaving NASA, Chang Díaz set up the Ad Astra Rocket Company, which became dedicated to the development of advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology. Years of research and development have produced the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), an electrical propulsion device for use in space. With a flexible mode of operation, the rocket can achieve very high exhaust speeds, and with a sufficiently powerful electrical supply even has the theoretical capability to take a crewed rocket to Mars in 39 days.
  Chang Díaz also is active in environmental protection and raising awareness about climate change, notably in his role in Odyssey 2050 The Movie in which he encourages young people to get motivated about environmental issues.   
  In addition, Chang Díaz is an Adjunct Professor in Physics and Astronomy at Rice University.
  He has been on the board of directors of Cummins since Dec 08, 2009.
caption: Dr. Chang with students during the filming of Odyssey 2050 The Movie at Ad Astra Rocket Company.
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