Astronaut with humble beginnings as migrant farmworker has school named after him

STOCKTON, Calif. (KOVR) – Put him on stage with an audience of young minds and Jose Hernández will proudly share his story.

Hernández, a Stockton, California, native with humble beginnings as a migrant farmworker, went on to become a NASA astronaut.

“It gives them hope,” he said. “It gives them that license to say, ‘If he did it, why can’t I?’”

His inspirational story led to a school in his hometown being named after him.

“I’m very humbled that they’re naming a school after me,” Hernández said.

Hernández served as the mission specialist on the space shuttle discovery in August 2009. The purpose of the mission was to deliver equipment to the International Space Station.

“When I sat down on that rocket, I wasn’t nervous because I said, ‘You know, it takes thousands of people to make this mission possible, and I know a lot of those people and I know their dedication,’” he said.

Principal Donita Drulias-Daumer said the goal is to bring a school, known for its academic excellence, into an underserved community. She said she wants to show kids they can go on to become engineers and even astronauts, like Hernández.

“Listening to him speak, and the kids just saying, ‘There’s a real astronaut here,’ and just talking to them about, ‘Do you think you could be an astronaut?’ and them saying, ‘Never,’ and I tell them ‘I think you can,’” she said.

It’s a dream reimagined as the world anticipates the launch of the Artemis moon rocket.

Although Hernández has already accomplished so much in his career, he said he would go to the moon “in a heartbeat” if he ever got the chance.

The astronaut’s story is also being featured in an upcoming biopic produced by Amazon.