From California’s farm fields to the International Space Station, José Hernández has lived an extraordinary American dream. After NASA rejected him eleven times, he earned his astronaut wings on his twelfth attempt. In 2009, he flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. Today, an author, engineer, vintner, and University of California Regent, he inspired the acclaimed film A Million Miles Away, starring Michael Peña.
Eleven rejections. One relentless dream. A million miles of determination.
José M. Hernández went from harvesting crops in California’s fields to orbiting Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. His remarkable journey is a testament to grit, courage, and the power of refusing to give up.
The son of Mexican migrant farmworkers, Hernández spent his childhood moving between California and Mexico, working alongside his family in the fields. But he dreamed of something far beyond the horizon: becoming an astronaut.
NASA rejected him eleven times. On his twelfth attempt, he made it.
In 2009, Hernández blasted into space aboard Discovery as a mission specialist on STS-128, a 14-day mission to the International Space Station. The boy who once picked crops beneath the California sun was now looking down at Earth from space.
His accomplishments extend far beyond the stars. During 17 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Hernández helped develop pioneering digital mammography technology for breast cancer detection and worked on nuclear nonproliferation. Today, he serves as a University of California Regent and leads Tierra Luna Engineering.
Never forgetting his roots, Hernández also returned to agriculture, becoming a vintner and producing wines under his Tierra Luna Cellars label.
His extraordinary life inspired the Amazon MGM Studios film A Million Miles Away, starring Michael Peña. He is also the author of several books, including Reaching for the Stars, sharing the lessons of ambition, resilience, family, and perseverance that propelled him from the fields to the stars.
Hernández is a sought-after keynote speaker and has inspired audiences at Google, Microsoft, Boeing, and universities across the U.S. and Latin America. Hernández challenges audiences to think bigger, work harder, and never surrender their dreams.
His message is unforgettable: The sky is not the limit. It’s just the beginning.
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