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.
Michael McFaul is the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in Political Science, Director and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, all at Stanford University. He was also the Distinguished Mingde Faculty Fellow at the Stanford Center at Peking University from June to August of 2015.
He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995. He is also an analyst for NBC News and a contributing columnist to The Washington Post.
McFaul served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009-2012), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014). He has authored several books, most recently the New York Times bestseller, “From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.” Earlier books include Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should, How We Can; Transitions To Democracy: A Comparative Perspective (eds. with Kathryn Stoner); Power and Purpose: American Policy toward Russia after the Cold War (with James Goldgeier); and Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin.
His current research interests include American foreign policy, great power relations between China, Russia, and the United States, and the relationship between democracy and development.
Prof. McFaul was born and raised in Montana. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Slavic Languages and his M.A. in Soviet and East European Studies from Stanford University in 1986. As a Rhodes Scholar, he completed his D. Phil. in International Relations at Oxford University in 1991.
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