A story out of this world

_{Former NASA astronaut and José Hernández speaks during the Distinguished Speaker Series Tuesday about a zero-G flight he went on with one of his sons. Hernández told the audience his story about being a young migrant farm worker who grew up to be an astronaut. Natalie Lapsley/THE RIDER PHOTOS}

José Hernández, a former NASA astronaut, spoke about his journey to become an astronaut to more than 1,000 attendees last Tuesday in the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex on the Edinburg campus.

Hernández kicked off the Distinguished Speaker Series as the first speaker of the spring semester.

Watching the Apollo 17 mission at age 10 made him want to become an astronaut.

“Imagine a 10-year-old boy watching on a black-and-white console TV with rabbit ear antennas because we couldn’t afford cable,” Hernández said. “And imagine that 10-year-old boy holding the antenna to improve reception while astronaut Gene Cernan walked on the moon. … I said, ‘That’s what I want to be. I want to be an astronaut.’ … I’m sure every kid had that dream, but … I still say it’s because of holding the antenna that it stuck with me.”

NASA rejected his application 11 times before he was selected. 

“I don’t like rejection,” Hernández said. “And human tendency is to give up after two or three rejections or failures. But in my case … instead of looking at the glass half empty, I always looked at it half full because my journey to trying to become an astronaut, you know, it motivated me to finish high school, finish college in engineering, go to graduate school, work at a world-premiere research facility. And so, all the steps I was taking to prepare myself to become an astronaut was helping my career.”

Hernández said the 11 rejections did not stop him.

“I said, ‘Look, the mere fact that you want to be an astronaut motivated you to do all these things and you have a great job,’” he said. “… Compare that to where you were 20 years ago, picking strawberries and cucumbers for 50 cents a bucket. … So I think the difference is I kept my eye on the prize of wanting to be an astronaut, but I was not obsessed with that. But rather, I was enjoying my journey on my way.”

Hernández felt his sixth rejection was the hardest for him, but his wife helped him to not give up.

“She looked at me and said ‘So, you are a quitter,’” Hernández said. “I said ‘No manches. It’s obvious that NASA doesn’t want me.’ And she looks at me and said, ‘… Read the last sentence of the letter, por favor.’”

At the end of each rejection letter, it stated Hernández was welcome to reapply. His wife encouraged him to keep reapplying because if he didn’t, he was going to have the curiosity of “what if?”

When Hernández told his father he wanted to become an astronaut, he gave him a five-step recipe for success: define your purpose in life, recognize how far you are from that goal, draw yourself a roadmap so you know how to get there, prepare yourself according to the challenge and develop a work ethic second to none. 

He said he added a sixth ingredient in his father’s recipe, which is perseverance and to never give up on yourself.

His educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of the Pacific and a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In 2001, Hernández joined NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He held various roles during his time at NASA, including materials research engineer, branch chief for the Materials and Processes branch, and astronaut candidate. 

He completed astronaut candidate training in 2006 and was involved in shuttle launch and landing preparations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Hernández left NASA in January 2011 and is now president and CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering LLC, an aerospace company in Stockton, California.

He encourages everyone to never doubt themselves.

“You’re going to find … that there’s very few people that look like yourself,” Hernández said. “… It’s human tendency to doubt yourself, to be conservative, to be quiet and say, ‘Hey, do I really belong here?’ And I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t do that. That’s the worst thing you can do. You need to speak up and you need to say your ideas.”

The former astronaut wrote about his experience in three books, “Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut,” “From Farmworker to Astronaut” and “The Boy Who Touched the Stars.” Hernández said he felt his story belonged with Select Films to create “A Million Miles Away,” the biographical film about his journey into space and co-developing the first digital mammography screening, because they specialize in motivational and inspirational films. 

“That’s how the movie concept was born,” he said. “… I’m very proud of it because they kept me involved in the project throughout the whole process. Although I didn’t have creative say or anything, but they gave me my place in that whole process.

“… Originally, they were just telling the story as a journey of a man becoming an astronaut. I said, ‘No, it’s a community, it’s my parents, and … family that went through this whole process.’ So I wanted to make sure everybody got their due in a story, and I think it came out pretty good. We’re pretty proud of it.”

Ameera Asif, a mass communication junior, attended the lecture and enjoyed learning more about Hernández’s life.

“I haven’t watched the movie or read the book, but it’s been on my list, so I’m going to have to watch it now,” Asif said. “[The presentation] was very educational and I feel like he solidified a lot of things that I have also learned in my life and so it solidified a lot of things for me.”

Cecilia Hernández, a resident of Harlingen, heard about the event from her husband. 

“He is not one of those who brings me down the stars,” Cecilia Hernández said. “He takes me to see the astronaut. That’s my husband.”

She had seen the movie but wanted to meet Hernández.

“I really loved the experience,” Cecilia Hernández said. “When they showed the video of the rocket, I got very nervous because in the movie it says that the previous one exploded. … I was very nervous because I was thinking about him, his family, his children and his wife.”

The Distinguished Speaker Series is a signature program under the leadership of Student Activities that aims to provide the university and surrounding community with world-class speakers and lecturers, according to the Student Activities webpage.

For more information, visit the series website.