Cuban-American selected as astronaut

Cuban-American selected as astronaut
By Gerardo Reyes The Miami Herald
5:57 AM EDT, July 20, 2009

Newly selected NASA astronaut Serena María Auñón says that if it were up
to her, she would include in the menu for the space station a succulent
dish of ropa vieja, her favorite Cuban meal.

''We have special kitchens here at NASA. Let's see what dishes they
offer,'' Auñón said.

The island's gastronomy is only one of several traditions the medical
astronaut owes to her father, Jorge Auñón, a Cuban immigrant whom his
family sent to the United States in 1960 while waiting for Fidel
Castro's downfall.

Auñón, 33, was selected last month, along with eight other astronauts,
for the next several space missions of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. The class was chosen from 3,500 candidates.

In a telephone interview with El Nuevo Herald, the astronaut explained
that much of the discipline and dedication that have propelled her
career came from a father who did not shrink from the obstacles faced by
a poor immigrant arriving alone in this country.

''I don't know anyone who has worked as hard in life as my father,''
said Auñón, recalling the exact date he arrived penniless in the United
States: Oct. 24, 1960. Often hungry, he sacrificed a lot, but pursued an
education and eventually worked his way up to dean of engineering at the
University of Alabama at Huntsville.

''He used to tell us that sometimes he had nothing to eat and prepared
tomato soup with hot water and ketchup packets,'' Auñón said.

Auñón is the fourth of four daughters born to her father and Maggie
Sefton, an American writer of children's mystery stories, from whom he
separated in 1998.

The girls grew up listening to stories about Cuba and followed the Cuban
Christmas and New Year's traditions their father taught them.

Sefton learned to cook black beans and other Cuban dishes at the side of
Auñón's mother in their home in northern Virginia.

''I think I'm the one who prepares the best ropa vieja in the family,''
Auñón said. "My dad always believed that traditions are very important,
especially when it comes to the family gathered around the dinner table.''

Intrigued by the stories their father told them about Cuba, two of
Serena's sisters, Melissa and Christine, traveled to the island and
visited the family house in the Miramar district of Havana, where the
neighbors still remembered them.

"Someday, I'd love to go to Cuba,'' Auñón said.

Cuban-American selected as astronaut - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
(20 July 2009)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-cuban-astronaut-bn072009,0,711980.story