José M. Hernández
José Moreno Hernández (born August 7, 1962) is a Mexican-American engineer and former NASA astronaut. He currently serves as a Regent of the University of California.
José Hernández | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2009 | |
| Born | José Moreno Hernández August 7, 1962 French Camp, California, U.S. |
| Education | University of the Pacific (BS) University of California, Santa Barbara (MS) |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
Time in space | 13d 20h 54m |
| Selection | NASA Group 19 (2004) |
| Missions | STS-128 |
Mission insignia | |
| Retirement | January 14, 2011 |
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.
In October 2011, Hernández, at the urging of President Barack Obama, ran for Congress as a Democrat in California's newly redrawn 10th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He won the Democratic nomination, but lost the 2012 general election to freshman Representative Jeff Denham.
Hernández is the subject of the 2023 biopic A Million Miles Away in which he is portrayed by Michael Peña.