Carmen Victoria Felix Chaidez

Felix was born in 1985 and raised in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.[1][2][3]

One night when she was five, Felix went out at night with her father to look at the stars. He taught her to identify constellations such as Orion and Pleiades. Studying the night sky became a favorite activity for the young girl.[2][4][5] She grew up reading about the Apollo moon missions and other space exploration, and she decided early she wanted a career in space.[2][6]

When she was twelve, she gained access to the Internet and immediately went to study NASA's website, looking for information about how to become an astronaut. She wanted to study astronomy or aerospace engineering, but those fields were not available in Culiacan.[2][5] She decided to study at a local international commerce school in the city. While there, she found out about a group of engineers going to visit NASA in Houston. The congress was the same week as midterms, but despite being against the rules, she convinced all of her professors to let her take her exams early.[2] She then took all her savings and borrowed money from her parents to finance the trip.[5] While in Houston, she visited various enterprises including the Johnson Space Center. She also attended the International Astronautical Congress, where she had an opportunity to talk to real astronauts.[5] Her question was how to work towards a career in space, as she was from Mexico that did not have programs to support those interested in such pursuits.[1][6] Astronaut Mike Massimino told her to study the sciences and engineering, fields NASA prefers, but of a type she had a passion for.[1][2]

Less than two weeks after the trip, she applied to study communication and electronic engineering at Monterrey Tech, graduating in 2003.[1][2][3] Unfortunately, she was the only one at the school at the time interested in space. Despite this, she attended space conferences and other events such as the National Astronomy Congress, which allowed her to meet people in her future field.[1][2] She was also invited to join a project to conserve Chipinque Park in Monterrey, which has an observatory. It had been out of use for some time and she worked to reactivate it. She then gave classes and workshops on astronomy to student visitors.[2]

When she graduated, she knew she wanted a masters but in something more specific to space.[2]

As there were no space-related program in Mexico at the time, she began her career working for AT&T and Texas Instruments.[1][2][3] Three years later, she found the opportunity to do a masters in space science with the International Space University (ISU), located in Strasbourg, France.[1][2]

As part of her graduate studies, Felix interned at NASA, working with the small satellite division. Here, she worked on a project to use smartphone technology to produce small satellites more economically (PhoneSat), working with developers from Google as well as other researchers from NASA.[1][5]

At the end of the internship in 2009, she was asked to stay on with NASA, which she accepted even before finishing her master's program.[1][5] Felix became the first and only Mexican scientist working at the agency. Her record there prompted NASA to look into finding more talent in Mexico.[6] One year into her employment, she returned to Mexico to help the agency identify student candidates for NASA internships resulting in students from various parts of Mexico studying at various NASA centers.[1] Another program sponsors four high school students, along with a teacher, to spend time with NASA to learn about the work.[6]

During the time, Felix also became involved with efforts to create the Mexican Space Agency, working with formation committees and Mexican authorities.[1][7]

In 2009 she joined the Space Generation Advisory Council, representing Mexico there for four years, organizing conferences in various universities in Mexico and abroad.[1][2]

The past years of Felix's career has been mostly focused on work related to an eventual human mission to Mars. She is an active participant with space analogues, which is dedicated to simulations and tests related to environments and situations astronauts will face with long-term stays on the red planet.[1][5] She is the first Mexican scientist to be involved with this work.[4]

In 2011, she participated in Mars Analogue Research Station Program, with the Austrian Space Forum, working to design a spacesuit specific to Mars. The project went to the Riotinto Mines in Spain, whose desert conditions are similar to that of Mars. For one week, the group camped at the site, testing the suit's mobility and communication systems.[1][3]

In 2012, she was invited to teach with the Space Business and Management department of ISU, working at the Floridia Institute of Technology, collaborating on a project at the Kennedy Space Center.[1][3]

In 2016, she participated with the Mars Society as part of a crew simulating a mission to the planet at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.[6][8] One of the purposes of the mission was to experience and document personal interactions among the crew forced to be together 24 hours a day in a small space. All the food was dehydrated and the living space very small, as in a real mission.[1][3] The other was to work on plant irrigation systems.[5] Her experience with the Mars simulation made her appreciate small things such as breathing fresh air, fresh food and all the vegetation on Earth.[1]

Felix moved to the Netherlands to work for the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety. She also is part of the Network of Mexican Talents Abroad in the Dutch capital.[1][3] She continues work to organize and execute Mars simulations, as well as continuing to promote space related activities in Mexico and for its students, organizing conferences and generating funds for scholarships.[6]

Despite her achievements, she still gets comments like “You are very pretty to be an engineer.”[4] One of her future hopes is that the first person to step on Mars is a woman, considering it fair since it was men who first stepped on the moon.[4] She stated “Never let anyone extinguish your dreams… I have always said that if God gave you the possibility to dream, he also gave you the possibility to makes those dreams reality.”[5][8]

She was named an Exemplary Sinaloan in the World (Sinaloense Ejemplar en el Mundo) by her home state.[3][9]

Quién magazine recognized her in 2017 as one of 50 people transforming Mexico.[10]