Figueroa enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and in 1978, he earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.

Upon his graduation, he continued his studies and completed advanced courses in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.

[2] In 1982, Figueroa was hired by NASA and was named Head of the Cryogenics Technology Section at the Goddard Space Flight Center located in Maryland.

The programs long range objective is to place humans into its present hostile environment.

[5] In August 2005 Mr. Figueroa was appointed to the position of Director for System Safety and Mission Assurance at the Goddard Space Flight Center.