More than a decade after he became the first former migrant worker to soar into space as a NASA astronaut, Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez reached another milestone this month. <\/p>\n
The film about his remarkable journey from the fields of California to the International Space Station debuted as the most popular movie streaming on Amazon Prime and has been earning praise from critics and audiences since its September 15 launch. <\/p>\n
Actor Michael Pe\u00f1a stars as Hern\u00e1ndez in \u201cA Million Miles Away,\u201d which tells the story of a boy who grew up picking cucumbers and cherries but kept his eyes trained on the stars. <\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez, an engineer, made history aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2009, the first shuttle mission sending two Latino astronauts into space. <\/p>\n
\u201cWho better to leave this planet and dive into the unknown than a migrant farmworker?\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez says in the film, quoting his cousin at a press conference as he gets ready to fly on that mission. <\/p>\n
For years, Hern\u00e1ndez grew up in a family of migrant workers who followed the harvest back and forth from California and Mexico. His parents were originally from the Mexican state of Michoac\u00e1n. Hern\u00e1ndez was born in California. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d sit them down in the back seat of the car. They were all very dusty. I\u2019d tell them, they\u2019d better start taking school seriously because if they don\u2019t do that, they will be all the time working in the fields. \u2026 That will be their future.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a scene viewers of the film will recognize, portrayed almost word for word by actor Julio C\u00e9sar Cedillo. <\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez says his dream of becoming an astronaut began after he watched the Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972, holding up the rabbit-ear antenna to get reception on his family\u2019s black and white television. When he shared his dream, Hern\u00e1ndez says his father offered him crucial advice. <\/p>\n
In the film, director Alejandra M\u00e1rquez Abella uses those five ingredients as chapters in her retelling of Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s story: <\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Find your goal
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Know how far you are
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Draw a roadmap
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you don\u2019t know how, learn
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When you think you\u2019ve made it, you probably have to work harder <\/p>\n
With these steps in mind, Hern\u00e1ndez did everything he could to further his education. He earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in engineering and went on to work for 15 years at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. <\/p>\n
But his goal of becoming a NASA astronaut remained elusive. <\/p>\n
The film portrays Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s perseverance as the space agency rejected Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s astronaut applications 11 times before selecting him for the program in 2004. And it shows what a critical role Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s family played supporting him along the way. <\/p>\n
In the film, actress Rosa Salazar portrays Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s wife, Adela, with emotional grit as someone who both holds her husband accountable and pushes him not to give up. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe sixth year that NASA rejected me, I crumpled up the rejection letter and threw it on the bedroom floor. I was going to quit trying, but she talked me out of it,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. <\/p>\n
His wife\u2019s words: \u201c\u2019Let NASA be the one to disqualify you. Don\u2019t disqualify yourself.\u201d <\/p>\n
The husband and wife\u2019s determination paid off when Hern\u00e1ndez became an astronaut against the odds. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was 41 when I became an astronaut,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cThe average age of new astronauts is 34.\u201d <\/p>\n
In an interview with Televisa after returning from space, Hern\u00e1ndez made a comment that was controversial at the time, telling the <\/strong>Mexican TV network that he hoped the Obama administration would pass comprehensive immigration reform. He noted that viewing Earth from outer space, there were no borders. <\/p>\n His comments caused NASA to take its own stand. In a statement released to the media, NASA said Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s opinions were his own and did not represent the space agency. The statement added that Hern\u00e1ndez had every right to express his personal views. <\/p>\n Hern\u00e1ndez has reiterated his initial point over the years. <\/p>\n \u201cThat is to say, from my perspective, down below, we were all one. How sad that humans invented the concept of borders to divide us.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI would ask more that they be more tolerant, and that they make the environment better for our migrants,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause right now everything is anti-immigrant\u00a0in our country.\u201d <\/p>\n The former astronaut has an on-screen cameo, helping Pe\u00f1a suit up as he heads into space. But he said his role in the movie went far beyond that appearance. <\/p>\n \u201cI was involved in the process because Alejandra took the time to get to know our family. When she was writing the script, she would send it to me and I would give her comments,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cSome were incorporated and others they couldn\u2019t because of time. It\u2019s difficult to put a whole life into two hours, right? So sometimes it wasn\u2019t included. But she did a great job putting together the story and getting it on screen.\u201d <\/p>\n The film is based on Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s 2012 memoir, \u201cReaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut.\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez says he hopes that bringing the story to the screen will help an even larger audience. <\/p>\n \u201cI am still the same person. Family keeps your feet firmly on the ground,\u201d he said. \u201cI keep being a father and a husband and taking the trash out every Thursday. I have my chores at home that I have to complete.\u201d <\/p>\n These days, when he\u2019s not doing those chores, promoting the new movie, working as an aerospace engineering consultant or telling his story as a motivational speaker, the 61-year-old sometimes finds himself back in the fields working alongside his father. <\/p>\n This time, they\u2019re working in California at a winery they own together. <\/p>\n On its website, Tierra Luna Cellars is described as the \u201cnext big dream\u201d for Hern\u00e1ndez, with a line of wines inspired by the constellations he saw from space. <\/p>\n\n More than a decade after he became the first former migrant worker to soar into space as a NASA astronaut, Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez reached another milestone this month. The film about his remarkable journey from the fields of California to the International Space Station debuted as the most popular movie streaming on Amazon Prime and has <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} What turning his life into a film was like<\/h2>\n
One thing the movie doesn\u2019t show: His \u2018next big dream\u2019<\/h2>\n