High above Canada, Colombian teenager Ivanna Hernandez was briefly weightless, as a special aircraft ran through a parabolic arc – but for her, this was just the start of what she hopes will be an interplanetary journey.
Hernandez, 16, lives in Santa Marta on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, but the eyes of this aspiring astronaut have been firmly fixed on the stars ever since she caught Carl Sagan’s Cosmos program on television.
“The first time I saw Cosmos, I couldn’t help being fascinated with its beautiful images, explanations and stories about the universe and the people who have dedicated themselves to studying it,” she said, “It was like love at first sight, I was soon full of emotion every time the program started and then I was researching and reading books on my own about black holes, galaxies and about astronomy in general.”
