Jose Hernandez says that not even the sky is the limit for immigrants who work hard to make their dreams come true in the U.S.
Hernandez ought to know, because his hard work and dreams recently took him beyond the sky as part of a U.S. team that made a recent mission to the International Space Station.
Hernandez made the trip as part of a National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) team, working on some of the agency's most sophisticated equipment. He made his recent comments after he came back down to earth and arrived as the guest of honor at the annual gala of the non-profit Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) Gala, held on April 8.
Hernandez has become well known as "Astro Jose," thanks in part to his use of the Twitter social-network to transmit English- and Spanish-language reports of his mission on the Disocvery shuttle to the space station last last year. He offered the crowd at the CHIRLA gala a personal glimpse of what got him all the way to outer space, citing the lessons learned as the son of Mexican immigrants who risked their lives to illegally cross the U.S. border as a way to escape poverty in their homeland of Michoacán, Mexico.
Hernandez was born in French Camp, California, United States on August 7, 1962. His parents, Julia Moreno and Salvador Hernandez, came to California from La Piedad in Michoacán. They labored as farm workers, working to ensure that their son and their three other children could get educations.
Hernandez made good on his parents' sacrifices, earning an the University of the Pacific in Stockton, and then a master's degree from the University of California as Santa Barbara. But before those academic achievements and his acceptance and success in NASA's space program, he joined his parents and siblings in the fields, harvesting fruits and vegetables. Indeed, Hernandez says that his motivation to become an astronaut came while he was picking vegetables in Stockton and heard a report on his transistor radio about Franklin Chang-Diaz, an immigrant from Costa Rica, being selected for NASA's program. Chang-Diaz later became the first Latino in space.
Hernandez said the story reminded him that the honors from CHIRLA were especially significant because of his many ties to the Latino community.
"I think the greatest honor one can receive is one that comes from one's own people," Hernandez said before the ceremony. "That moves me more than anything, because it's my own people who are giving me this award, and I am very grateful and very happy to be here."
Hernandez assured the crowd that his Latino heritage traveled along on the mission to outer space. He said that he danced salsa, ate tacos and burritos, and discussed Mexico's aspirations for competing in the Soccer World Cup while he floated aboard the Discovery. He later said that once he landed back on earth he wished that all world leaders and politicians could see the world as he had.
"So that they could see our world, that we really are one, and that we should work together," Hernandez told an interviewer from a Mexican television station. "What really surprised me is when I saw the world as one, there were no borders — you couldn't distinguish the United States from Mexico."
Hernandez remains down-to-earth in his thinking, even if he's been to outer space. He said that being considered a role model for children and young people around the world is a great responsibility that he hopes to fulfill.
"I take the role of being an example very seriously because, unfortunately, many times athletes who are seen as examples do a lot of silly things, so parents say they don't want their children to see them as examples," he said. "I don't want that to ever be said of me, so I take this role very seriously."
Hernandez said that the obligations he feels as a role model amount to a personal mission: To motivate and encourage new generations to excel.
"I tell them to study, to prepare themselves, and to set goals for themselves even if they think they're unattainable, because everything is possible," he said. "I left the fields to make my dream of becoming an astronaut come true. Everything is possible in this world if you study and strive."
Hernandez said that he is currently working on an administrative project at NASA in Washington, D.C., with the possibility of another mission to outer space in the future.
"I'm working in the Office of Legal Affairs, and I'm helping with NASA policy in order to try to formulate its future direction, budget and everything," he said. "After six months I'll go back to Houston, and then we'll see if I get assigned to another space flight, which is what I'd really like to do."
The CHIRLA gala gave Hernandez the chance to hand several scholarships to students for their excellent school work — a group of honores that included Laura Ochoa, an immigrant from the Mexican state of Oaxaca..
"It is a great honor for me that my scholarship was given to me by Jose Hernandez," Ochoa said. "It was a surprise because I didn't know he would be at the event, and I found out a few days before. I'm very excited because he is a very important person in our community."
Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, who serves as persident of CHIRLA president, said Hernandez' presence gave the organization an opportunity to highlight the reasons immigrants come to the U.S., as well as the many success stories to be found among their ranks.
"Many times they are very poor, they don't speak the language, and they face many obstacles," Rivera-Salgado said. "But they get ahead, they are good human examples of what we want to highlight, like that of Jose Hernandez, who became an astronaut, and like Laura Ochoa, an outstanding student.
"Those are the messages that we want all the immigrant families to hear, because if we work hard for our rights, we can achieve what we want," Rivera-Salgado said.
Nora Alicia Estrada is a writer for Impulso.
Photos from Impulso.
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