Monday, September 15, 2025
Celebrating - José M. Hernández
As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, I would like to celebrate José M. Hernández, who is a Mexican-American Engineer and astronaut. The other day, while scrolling on my social media, I came across a film clip from the movie A Million Miles Away, which was a film based on his 2012 Autobiography “Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut.” This clip prompted me to research José further.
It is incredible that he began as a migrant farm worker alongside his parents as a young child and worked his way up to become a mission specialist on STS-128, which was launched in August 2009.
He also developed the first full-field digital Mammography imaging system with a commercial colleague while working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
He has earned many awards and honors, which can be found at the Wikipedia link below.
1. José M. Hernández - Wikipedia
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, I am celebrating Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, who changed California and set a legal precedent ending De Jure Segregation in the United States(1). In 1946, they tried to enroll their children in the majority white school near their home, and their kids were sent to a segregated school for Hispanic students. They filed a lawsuit, arguing that segregating children based on ethnicity was a violation of the 14th Amendment. They won their case and the appeal. Governor Earl Warren then moved to desegregate all public schools and other public spaces. (1, 2)
Their daughter, Sylvia Mendez, received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2010 for her role in the struggle for Mexican-American Civil Rights
Book 3 of Douglas Talbott's The Berkelium Effect, in my opinion, was the best of the three-book series. Humans have gone farther into space than at any time in history. They have a big mystery to solve, and I can't wait to see how he fleshes out solving the mystery.