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.
Timothy Andr�s Pabon speaks softly as he narrates Morillo's first-person account of his childhood. Morillo, who immigrated to New York from Ecuador with his mother, is now a systems engineer for Blue Origin. Previously, he worked on the Mars 2020 team. Pabon puts determination into Morillo's words as the space engineer recalls his drive to learn. At one point, Pabon delivers a tense action scene i
