Dr. Jose Hernandez

Dr. José Hernández is the subject of the 2023 Amazon Prime movie, A Million Miles Away, which documents his incredible life from being a migrant farmworker to becoming a NASA astronaut. His story resonates with discussions about immigration and the American dream, making him a role model for future generations.

He is a University of California Regent and the President and CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering, LLC, an aerospace engineering consulting firm. From 2001 to 2011, he worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in various roles, including legislative analyst, branch chief, materials research engineer, and astronaut.

Hernandez wanted to be an astronaut ever since he heard that the first Hispanic-American, Franklin Chang-Diaz, had been chosen to travel into space. Hernandez’ hard work paid off. After applying every year for 12 years, he was finally selected to begin training as a mission specialist as part of the 2004 astronaut candidate class.  During the astronaut application process, Hernandez had to meet with a review board. That’s where he came face-to-face with his original inspiration: Franklin Chang-Diaz. “It was a strange place to find myself, being evaluated by the person who gave me the motivation to get there in the first place,” Hernandez says. “But I found that we actually had common experiences — a similar upbringing, the same language issues. That built up my confidence. Any barriers that existed, he had already hurdled them.”  Hernandez smiles. “Now it’s my turn!”

He was assigned to the Space Shuttle Discovery and served as a flight engineer on its penultimate mission, STS-128, which completed construction of the International Space Station. During this 14-day mission, Dr. Hernández and his crew delivered and installed over 7 tons of equipment to the ISS.

Prior to his tenure at NASA, Dr. Hernández spent 17 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he contributed to the X-ray laser project and co-developed the first full-field digital mammography system for early breast cancer detection.

Aside from running his aerospace consulting company, Dr. Hernandez has authored three books and is currently working on publishing his fourth. One of his books is a self-penned autobiography entitled, Reaching for the Stars, which served as the basis for the Amazon Prime movie, A Million Miles Away,starring Michael Peña.

Dr. Hernández holds a Master’s degree in Signals and Systems Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Pacific. He has been honored with nine honorary Doctorate degrees.

He has come full circle with his roots, as he also owns and operates a vineyard, producing three varieties of wine under his Tierra Luna Cellars label.