Joseph M. Acaba

Joseph M. Acaba is an American hydrogeologist, educator and NASA astronaut born in 1967 to a Puerto Rican family in California. He earned a bachelor degree in geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a master degree in geology from the University of Arizona, then worked as a hydrogeologist in Los Angeles before teaching science and mathematics. Selected by NASA in 2004 as an Educator Mission Specialist, he became the first person of Puerto Rican ancestry named a NASA astronaut candidate and has flown three space missions, later serving as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 2023 to 2025.