Monday, August 31, 2009
Jose Hernández
Although a shuttle launched into space travels thousands of miles, for Jose Hernández, the meaning of a long, arduous journey is all too familiar. Hernández, one of the six astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery, has had a remarkable success story that began in the fields in California and has now led him to an orbit in space. Thousands watched on Friday afternoon as Discovery launched into space, including Hernández’s Mexican parents, who taught him that getting an education was necessary for a better life.
Growing up, Hernández worked alongside his older brother and sister as a migrant farm worker in the fields of California, picking cucumbers and tomatoes. Hernández did not learn to speak English until he was 12, and his parents might have been pleased if he had just finished high school. However, Hernández pressed on to university, eventually earning bachelor of science and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at the University of the Pacific and the University of California, Santa Barbara, respectively. He then went on to work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he emerged as an expert in x-ray physics. He helped with the disposal of Russian nuclear materials before he became an engineer at the Johnson Space Center. In 2004 he was selected to be one of Discovery’s six astronauts.
Hernández attributes much of his motivation to Franklin Chang-Diaz, the first Latin American astronaut. Hernández was hoeing a row of sugar beets in 1981 when he heard on his transistor radio that Chang-Diaz, a Costa Rican-born American, had been chosen. Just as Chang-Diaz was an inspiration for many, Hernández hopes to motivate other Hispanic students. According to NASA, there are currently nine Hispanics in the astronaut program, and a total of 13 in the program’s history.
-Jacquelyn Lickness
A Latino Astronaut’s Remarkable Journey (CNN.com)
Former Migrant Worker Journeys From Farm Fields to Space (by Gina Sunseri, ABC News)
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