MOVERS & SHAKERS
José Moreno Hernández: Former NASA Astronaut Future Congressman.
- Category: MOVERS & SHAKERS
- Published on Friday, 10 February 2012 00:02
- Written by Pete Quiroba III
- Hits: 129
José is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut.
Hernández was born in French Camp, California, but calls Stockton, California, his hometown. His family is from La Piedad, Michoacán, with indigenous Purépecha roots. In an August 25, 2009 conversation with President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, Hernández stated that as a child, he lived half the year in La Piedad and half in the United States. As a child, Hernández worked alongside his family and other farmworkers throughout the fields of California, harvesting crops and moving from one town to another. He attended many schools and didn't learn to speak English until he was 12. Hernández was assigned to the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-128. He also served as chief of the Materials and Processes branch of Johnson Space Center. Hernández previously developed equipment for full-field digital mammography at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Hernández left NASA in 2011.
Hernández is married and has five children, ages six to 14. His wife, Adela, runs a Mexican restaurant just outside the Johnson Space Center gates, called Tierra Luna Grill, which is Spanish for Earth Moon Grill.
In September 2009, Hernández advocated support of a legalization path for immigrants. "Having 12 million undocumented people here means there's something wrong with the system, and the system needs to be fixed." Hernández called this his personal opinion, and not a representation of NASA policy.
Hernández announced at Pacific Union College on September 29, 2011 that at the urging of President Barack Obama he was considering a run for the U.S. House of Representatives and would announce his decision on October 11, 2011. He announced his candidacy as promised on October 11 via Twitter by linking to his campaign website. Hernandez made his first public campaign appearance on January 14, 2012, at a Democratic Candidate Forum in Tracy, Ca at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites.
