Ochoa studied electrical engineering at Stanford University, earning a master's degree (1981) and a doctorate (1985). A specialist in the development of optical systems, she worked as a research engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and at the Ames Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She helped create several systems and methods that were awarded patents, including optical systems for the detection of imperfections in a repeating pattern and for the recognition of objects. In 1990 Ochoa was selected by NASA to participate in its astronaut program, and she completed her training in 1991. In April 1993 she served as mission specialist aboard the shuttle Discovery, becoming the first Hispanic woman to travel into space. She was part of the Atlantis mission in November 1994, and in 1999 she was a member of the Discovery crew that executed the first docking to the International Space Station (ISS). Ochoa returned to the ISS in 2002.