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David Rodriguez is a husband, father, and space vehicle engineer. He is originally from Los Angeles, growing up in East Hollywood, and moving around to different neighborhoods.
He was the first person in his family to go to college. This characteristic helped him discover what type of person he wanted to become. He looks out for students and people from underprivileged backgrounds or immigrants, helping them find solutions by always keeping in mind the challenges he had growing up, being first generation Hispanic. 
David Rodriguez with his family.
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David Rodriguez with his mother.
As a local of East Hollywood, he expresses himself with joy and happiness by describing how everything is lovely in Los Angeles, he even mentioned: “It's hard to explain it if you are not from here.”
It is clear that the place where he grew up has definitely had a great impact on him. When talking about Los Angeles and his neighborhood, he expressed how L.A. is a place where multiple cultures connect, how neighborhoods look like little cities with their unique characteristics and qualities, and how you can discover something new in each of them.
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He has three degrees, one in Psychology from UC Santa Cruz, which he obtained to learn how to better communicate with people. The second one was awarded in 2009 from UC Berkeley, where he got a degree in Mechanical Engineering to fulfill his desire of being an engineer. However, there is one degree that helped him realize what he really wanted. In 2019, he was awarded a degree in Astronautical Engineering from USC.
Photo Credit: David Rodriguez
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David Rodriguez is a hard worker, who has been always focused in achieving his goals, with his greatest characteristic being perseverance. He has always worked in the same place but at different jobs. In 2007, he started as an intern working as a Mechanical Designer at Northrop Grumman. In this position he worked for the project called James Webb Space Telescope, which takes pictures of stars farther away than anything else has been taken. Then, he went on to work in mechanical systems, testing space satellites which contained the hardware that is chosen to go to space. At this point, he knew he needed a new degree and he went back to school. Upon completion of his third degree, he could pursue his dream and move forward one more step, or, as it has been said:
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“That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
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When describing his present job, you can see his joy, interest and curiosity for what could be beyond humanity. He is works with many other engineers, and enjoys being part of a team. But why space? Why did he decide to work in space engineering? As with all great stories, there is always something that inspired the protagonist on their journey. |
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As kids, we dream of our favorite jobs and this was the case with David. He was in fifth grade when he watched a video of a space shuttle taking off. Ever since that moment, he knew he wanted to be a part of building the next space shuttle. Most people would say, “I want to be an astronaut” but he wasn’t thinking that at the time. Instead, he thought: “I want to make that!” |
Some advice from him is to find what role you want to fill, figure out what you like, what you want to do, and what you are curious about. I asked him, what happened after he achieved his dream? His answer was, “Humans are far from what we can get to know now from space. Being able to build it is the first step, there is a huge world that still needs to be explored.”
After the interview, I considered what we dream of, and, what is beyond us,
beyond our planet.
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