No, this is no hoax, on April 1, astronaut José Hernández visited San Joaquin Delta College to talk about his path to becoming an astronaut, the demanding training needed for space flight, and the mindset that allowed him to succeed despite all obstacles.
Hernández is a former NASA astronaut and engineer who flew on the STS-128 mission in 2009. His story was so inspirational because he was a former migrant farmworker. He was selected in 2004 after 12 rejections, later becoming a mission specialist, contributing to robotics and logistics on the International Space Station.
While Hernández came to visit, it was the same day NASA successfully launched the Artemis II mission, which took four astronauts on a 10-day trek around the moon and back. This is the first crewed lunar flyby in almost 50 years. With a 10-day trip to test technologies to get ready for future human Mars expeditions and sustained lunar exploration, according to www.nasa.gov.
To start the event, Digital Media Professor Adriana Brogger introduced Communication Professor Ricardo Aguilar-Rodriguez, who performed a land acknowledgement.
Then, MESA alumnus Darius Waiters delivered an inspirational poem of his own journey to introduce Hernández and how he had come so far, with so little.
Hernández grew up in Stockton, graduating from Franklin High School, and earning a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Pacific and an M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of California-Santa Barbara. Before NASA Hernández Worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he helped develop the first full-field digital mammography system.
José Hernández spoke not only about his achievements before getting into space, but what he had done after, with his autobiographies, “Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut, ”“From Farmworker to Astronaut” and “The Boy Who Touched The Stars.” The first of these was the basis for a 2023 biopic about Hernández’s journey starring Michael Peña, “A Million Miles Away.”
Hernández shared his father’s five-part recipe for success:
- Define your goal
- Recognize how far you are from it
- Create a roadmap to get there
- Education is key
- Develop a strong work ethic
But Hernández added one more step: “Persevere. Never give up.”
He shares that advice with everyone he meets, he said.”
After Hernández finished speaking, he autographed a handful of group members’ books or papers before going for the Delta College Mariachi Band performance.
