José Hernández

Mexican-American astronaut who rose from migrant farming to NASA engineer.

José Hernández (born 1962) embodies the American Dream through his journey from seasonal farmworker to space traveler. Born in La Piedad, Mexico, Hernández crossed the border annually with his family for agricultural work until settling in California at age 12.

After earning dual engineering degrees, Hernández developed digital mammography systems at Lawrence Livermore Lab. He applied 12 times before being accepted into NASA's 2004 astronaut class. His persistence paid off aboard STS-128 (2009), where he operated the Columbus laboratory module and became the first to tweet in Spanish from space.

Post-NASA, Hernández founded PerfectLupin, creating protein-rich foods from Andean lupin beans. His memoir Reaching for the Stars inspired the film A Million Miles Away (2023). Through the Reach for the Stars Foundation, he promotes STEM education among Latino youth.