Former NASA Astronaut, Engineer Jose Hernandez to speak at UCM Oct. 9

Jose Hernandez, a former NASA astronaut and engineer, will share his inspirational story at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9 at the University of Central Missouri (UCM).

Doors will open for the “Reaching New Heights” program at 6:30 p.m. in Nahm Auditorium in the W.C. Morris Science Building on campus. There will be a Q&A session with Hernandez after his remarks, which coincides with National Hispanic Heritage Month. 

Hernandez’s visit, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Center for Multiculturalism & Inclusivity, the Office of Student Experience and Engagement and the Office of the Provost. It is part of the Distinguished Speaker Series at UCM that was started in 2022 as a way to bring new perspectives on a broad range of topics and issues to the campus and Warrensburg communities.

Hernandez grew up as one of four children in a migrant farming family from Mexico. He didn’t learn English until he was 12 years old, but he already had an interest in science and engineering by the time he was in high school. He was inspired by Franklin Chang-Diaz, the first Hispanic American to travel into space in the 1980s. 

Hernandez eventually became a NASA engineer when he began training as a mission specialist as part of the 2004 astronaut candidate class. During his astronaut application process, Hernandez met with a review board, which included Chang-Diaz. Hernandez said he found the two men had shared experiences and that it was now his turn to forge a path thanks to the efforts of Chang-Diaz.

After graduating from high school in Stockton, California, Hernandez earned a degree in electrical engineering from the University of the Pacific in Stockton. He was awarded a full scholarship to the graduate program at the University of California in Santa Barbara, where he continued his engineering studies.

In 1987, he accepted a full-time job with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, working on signal and image processing applications in radar imaging, computed tomography and acoustic imaging.

Later in his career, Hernandez worked on developing quantitative X-ray film imaging analysis techniques for the X-ray laser program. Using these techniques, he co-developed the first full-field digital mammography imaging system. This system has proven helpful in detecting breast cancer at an earlier stage than film/screen mammography methods. Hernandez won recognition awards for his work on the project.

He has also worked in the international arena, representing Lawrence Livermore and the U.S. Department of Energy on Russian nuclear non-proliferation issues.

A biopic about Hernandez premiered last year on Amazon Prime. Based on Hernandez’s autobiography, “Reaching for the Stars,” the film “A Million Miles Away” stars Michael Peña and tells the story of Hernandez’s life from a child migrant worker to achieving his dream of becoming an astronaut. The movie will be shown at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1 in the UCM Union Cinema and the public is welcome to attend.

For more information, contact UCM Student Experience and Engagement at experience@ucmo.edu.

Jose Hernandez, a former NASA engineer and astronaut, will speak at the University of Central Missouri on Wednesday, Oct. 9.