• AEROSPACE ENGINEER 
  
• Led the team that designed the Sojourner Truth, the FIRST autonomous vehicle to land on another planet
• Inspired to go to Mars by The Sands of Mars, a book by Arthur C. Clarke
• Joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1966, and worked on a Mars landing as early as 1971, but Congress canceled the project before it could be completed
• Earned bachelor degrees in aerospace engineering and professional writing, and attended night school -- while working full time at JPL -- to earn her master's degree in aerospace engineering
• Became chief engineer of a project dedicated to exploring different celestial bodies, including Saturn, that would eventually lead to the 1997 Cassini probe launch
• Appointed manager of NASA's Mars Exploration Program in 1991, redirecting the focus of the project to significantly reduce the size of the rover, which was originally the size of a pickup truck
• The Sojourner provided incontrovertible evidence that Mars once had water
• Received numerous awards, including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal
• Retired from NASA in 1998

Bibliography: Vare, Ethlie Ann and Greg Ptacek. Patently Female. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002. Print.
(1998, Aug. 20). Mars Exploration Program Manager Donna Shirley to Retire. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=5126

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