The Boy Who Reached for the Stars

A Memoir

Author: Elio Morillo, Cecilia Molinari and Timothy Andrés Pabon

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"Heartwarming... infectious ... [Morillo's The Boy Who Reached for the Stars] is every bit the inspiration he means it to be." -Kirkus Reviews

The engineer known as the "space mechanic" speaks to both our future and past in this breathless memoir of his journey from Ecuador to NASA and beyond.

Elio Morillo's life is abruptly spun out of orbit when economic collapse and personal circumstances compel his mother to flee Ecuador for the United States in search of a better future for her son. His itinerant childhood sets into motion a migration that will ultimately carry Elio to the farthest expanse of human endeavor: space.

Overcoming a history of systemic adversity and inequality in public education, Elio forged ahead on a journey as indebted to his galactic dreams as to a loving mother whose sacrifices safeguarded the ground beneath his feet. Today, Elio is helping drive human expansion into the solar system and promote the future of human innovation--from AI and robotics to space infrastructure and equitable access.

The Boy Who Reached the Stars is both a cosmic and intimate memoir spun from a constellation of memories, reflections, and intrepid curiosity, as thoroughly luminous as the stars above.

About the Author

Elio Morillo, the "space mechanic" is a Mars 2020 operations engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Born in Ecuador and raised in Puerto Rico and New York, Elio's experiences have left him passionate about DEI, bringing years of volunteering and organization experience to JPL's Hispanic Employee Resource Group and more recently to its New Researchers and Scientists Group, where he is the current networking chair. He is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan and currently resides in California.Timothy Andres Pabon is an actor and Spanish and English voice-over artist/audiobook narrator from Washington DC. He has over 140 books on Audible.com, one of which was nominated for a 2015 Society of Voice Arts and Sciences Award and another which was awarded an AudioFile Earphones award as part of an ensemble audiobook cast in 2014. His voice-over clients include Gabrielle Giffords, Hillary Clinton, The Sierra Club, NBC, and the 10-episode series Chasing Che on National Geographic. He has been seen on House of Cards seasons 3 and 4 as Mark, a White house press correspondent. He has also been a costar on HBO's acclaimed series The Wire opposite country music legend Steve Earl. As a stage actor he has worked Off-Broadway at the June Havoc Theatre, and his regional credits include Center Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, The Hippodrome, Olney Theatre, Rep Stage, and GALA Hispanic Theatre. Tim is a proud father of two children, and a member of AFTRA/SAG and Actor's Equity.