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Natacha Chough

Biography

Natacha Chough has two loves - space and medicine. Since she graduated from college, she has done award-winning work for NASA as a planetary protection biologist preparing the Mars Exploration Rovers for launch and spent two years in Turkmenistan as a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching preventive health to a village of 12,000. She says her experiences in Turkmenistan inspired her to study medicine, but adds, "I am drawn to practice it in the most exploratory manner possible: with the space program."

By the end of her career, Natacha aims to have served as a NASA flight surgeon. She sees wider benefits in this work. "As missions develop to send us to the Moon and Mars, much remains to be discovered about how humans react to long-duration space flight, and its relevance to the public's welfare is considerable," she says. "For example, studying muscle atrophy and osteoporosis in astronauts can significantly reduce health care costs by teaching us how to better prevent and treat such ailments on Earth."

Natacha says one of her greatest assets is her acceptance of others. Her mom is French and her dad is Korean. She says a friend once commented that everyone in her family had a different accent. "It is true, and a constant reminder to never lose sight of the inherent value of those I encounter."

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