(upbeat music) - Good evening, and welcome to "Horizonte," a show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm your host, Catherine Anaya.

Tonight we bring you the amazing story of a man who went from work in the agricultural fields, to travel to outer space.

Jose Hernandez grew up in a migrant farming family from Mexico, moving from place to place to follow the crops.

He didn't learn English until he was 12.

He worked hard, developed an interest in science, leading to degrees in electrical and computer engineering.

And after 11 attempts, he became an astronaut onboard a space shuttle, space shuttle mission in 2009.

His life and journey is the subject of the 2023 movie, "A Million Miles Away."

Take a look.

- Over the course of the last 10 years, every academic, professional and personal decision I've made, I've made with the space program in mind.

- Sure.

- I have my Master's in electrical engineering.

I'm a pilot now with over 800 hours under my belt.

I have my scuba diving certificate.

I just ran the San Francisco Marathon.

- Wow.

- And I speak Russian, sir.

- In fact, I volunteered to travel to Siberia as part of the Transparency program for the US Department of Energy.

I'm the father of five most perfect children, and then the husband of the most incredible wife who threatened to leave me if I didn't come here today.

I've applied 12 times, and yes, sir, I've been on the verge of giving up after each and every rejection.

But you know what, sir?

Here I am.

So you could turn me down again, but rest assured, I'll be standing here again in a year.

- What a scene.

Joining us now is astronaut Jose Hernandez.

It is so nice to meet you and see you, Jose.

- Great seeing you, Catherine.

Thank you very much for the invitation to be here in "Horizonte."

- Thank you so much.

Well, what is it like to see your life played out on the big screen and by somebody like Michael Pena, who's one of my favorites?

- It's pretty surreal to have someone as a great actor as Michael Pena is, I'm a big fan of his, even before he became, he was to play me in the movie.

I saw him in "Mars" and the movie "Mars," and he played an astronaut.

So when we were around the table and they asked me who I wanted to play me, I immediately said, "Michael Pena."

'Cause he has the experience in acting as an astronaut.

And he's kinda has a similar background as I do.

So I thought he would do it justice to the character.

And as soon as I sent him the script, I mean, he immediately said he wanted to do it.

So it's not like we had to look for other actors, or do any screen test.

He said yes, and he was our guy.

- Yes, excellent choice on both your parts.

We saw in that clip that you were rejected 11 times by NASA before you were selected in the 19th class of the astronauts in 2004.

Five years later you were a mission specialist on board the Space Shuttle Discovery.

I mean, that's incredible.

It's perseverance, though, when you talk about the fact that you were rejected 11 times.

Something you talk about a lot, especially to Latino students.

How did your work in the fields impact that perseverance and that relentlessness?

- I think it impacted me in a very positive way.

A lot of people always say that they're amazed that in spite of being a migrant farm worker, I made it to become an astronaut.

And I always correct them.

I said, "It's not in spite of."

I said, "Because of."

And let me tell you why.

It's because working out as a migrant farm worker taught me the work ethic, taught me hard work.

And the lessons my parents taught us during that period came a long way in making sure that I had that sort of perseverance DNA in me, that I would never give up.

That as long as I worked hard, good things will happen.

- And your parents were very supportive of you.

I understand your father played a very pivotal role in encouraging you to follow your dreams of becoming an astronaut.

What is that five-step recipe for success that he gave you at a tender age, that you now share with the students that you talk to?

- Yeah, yes.

It's a roadmap to success.

And I always tell people to make sure when I give my presentations, I have a big slide up there with that five-ingredient recipe.

I add a sixth one, and it's very simple.

My dad told me, "If you really wanna do this," he says, "Follow this simple five-ingredient recipe."

He said, "First, define your purpose in life.

Second, recognize how far you are from that purpose.

Third, draw yourself a roadmap so you know how to get there."

And then he says fourth, "Prepare yourself according to the challenge you picked."

And he told me you picked the doozy, so you know you're going to college, and then some.

And then fifth, he pointed outside my kitchen window, and said, "That effort you put out Saturdays and Sundays, seven days a week during the summer, picking fruits and vegetables?"

And I said, "Yes?"

He would point down to my books on the kitchen table and said, "You put that effort there.

And when you finish college and you get a job, you put it in your job."

He says, "You mix that up, mijo, and that's the recipe to succeed."

And then of course, I add a sixth ingredient, which is perseverance.

'Cause Catherine, this dream of me wanting to become an astronaut when my Dad gave me this recipe was as a result of me watching Gene Cernan walk on the surface of the moon on Apollo 17, circa 1972.

I was 10 years old.

And that's what motivated me.

That's when the dream was conceived of me wanting to be an astronaut.

And as soon as I told him that, he took me to that kitchen table and gave me that five-ingredient recipe I just rattled off.

And I'll tell you, it works.

And I add that perseverance one, 'cause you saw on the video clip that I got rejected 11 times.

It wasn't until the 12th time, but remember the dream started as a 10-year-old.

I did not get selected until I was 42.

- [Catherine] Incredible.

- I did not fly into space until I was 47.

So it was a 37-year-old dream coming to a culmination when I was getting ready to go and blast off into space in 2009 on the STS-128.

- Well, that perseverance is all about no matter how long it takes.

Your 2009 Space Shuttle Discovery mission was the 128th shuttle mission, and the 30th mission to the International Space Station.

While at the Orbital Lab, you and your crew conducted three space walks.

What was that experience like?

- Well, it was very interesting.

I did not get to conduct the spacewalk because they break the crew into two groups.

The first group consists of four astronauts.

They're the ones that are up on the flight deck.

And so when we get assigned to a mission, I was one of those, I'm the flight engineer.

And so we're practicing our launch, landings, and orbit ops.

And while we're doing training that, because we train for about 18 months once we get assigned to a mission.

- [Catherine] Mm hmm.

- While we're training for that, then the three other astronauts, 'cause there's seven on the crew, the three other astronauts are training on what's called the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, which is a fancy word for a very big pool, 40 feet deep.

So big, so big, Catherine, that you can fit a full size shuttle and one third of the International Space Station at the same time.

- [Catherine] That's amazing.

- The International Space Station full size, is as big as a football field.

So imagine a third of a football field, and then a full-sized shuttle.

That's how big that pool is.

So those three astronauts, while we're practicing ascents and entries, they're practicing the space walks.

- [Catherine] Mm hmm.

- Now we cross-train, so when someone gets sick, we can cover for each other.

But our main duties stay up in space, is we separate space walkers from the flight deck folks.

And so what I did in the interim, is I also was one of two operators for the robotic arm.

And so the astronauts get out, and they get at the end of the robotic arm and I take them to the payload bay, they get the equipment, then I take 'em to the work site.

They install ammonia tank assemblies, battery units, there are also camera arrays, solar arrays, everything.

There are antennas.

And so I'm kinda like their Uber in space.

They conducted three walks in groups of two, at about seven hours each.

- [Catherine] Incredible.

- And so of course from the inside, we're supporting them, talking to them.

And then of course, with the robotic arm, I'm translating them from point A to point B.

- Well, it's important work.

You said you were inspired as a young boy at 10 years old.

When you talk to Latino students and we talk about the number of Latino students we're trying to get to pursue STEM fields.

What do you say when you're talking about schools with a high percentage of Hispanics who are actually offering fewer STEM courses?

What can we do to encourage more of our young students to get involved in STEM when that's happening?

- Well, Catherine, I try to do my part, right?

Because I look at when I was a 10-year-old, here I am watching a Caucasian astronaut walk on the moon.

And he motivated me to do good in school, graduate high school, go to college, and wanna be an astronaut.

And so what I try and do is I try to get out there as much as I can so that our Latino kids can see someone that looks like them, that talks like them, that perhaps came from similar socioeconomic backgrounds where they find themselves now, and give them this empowering process effect that when they hear my story, and they realize, "Hey, if he was able to do it, why can't I?"

I mean, this morning, I was just at a school that has my namesake in San Jose.

It's called the Jose Hernandez Alpha Middle School.

And I went there with a foundation from Los Angeles called Gordon Philanthropies.

And with the founder, Dan Gordon, we took them over hundreds of books to read, including my books, that are given to the students so they can raise their reading level.

And those are the type of things that we try and do.

So I think it's more than anything, exposing the kids to STEM careers.

- Yes, and what kind of an impact does that make when you are talking to these kids who see somebody who looks like them, who hears somebody who talks like them, who comes from a similar background?

Have you had anyone come to you, and say that you inspired them to want to do this for the same way that you were inspired by someone?

- All the time, Catherine, all the time.

I'll tell you one day, I was in Denver changing planes.

And I was going, I think from Terminal C to Terminal B, where you got that underground that has the lights on and everything.

And I was on that walkway that moves you.

And I saw a kid, young man, that sort of looked at me as he was coming the other way and did a double take.

And then I saw him hop off it, and run the other way to find me.

And he found me, and then he introduced himself.

He said, "Hey, I just wanna let you know that you came to my school one day, and you talked about being an astronaut, being an engineer.

And I just wanna let you know that you motivated me to go to college.

And now I work for Hewlett Packard as an engineer.

And I'm going on a business trip.

I just wanna thank you."

I mean, if that doesn't put in a knot in your throat, I don't know what will.

- Oh, absolutely.

One final question before I let you go.

What would your younger self think about who you are, and what you've accomplished at this point in your life?

What would you have thought as your younger self?

Would you have ever expected that you would've accomplished everything you have to this point, and still continue to do in the lives of young Latinos?

- In my case, ignorance was a bliss.

I didn't realize how hard the effort was gonna be of becoming an astronaut.

That journey, that 37-year-old journey of how hard it was, and the school of hard knocks you learn along the way.

But what I would tell myself, what I realized is, what my son is doing now, is he's doing it the right way.

'Cause a lot of people say, "What would you have done differently?"

What I would've done differently is I would've went onto my PhD, got my PhD right away, and then started applying.

I stopped at my Master's and went straight to work because of economic necessities.

But my son, he just finished his PhD at Purdue, and I told him, "Why did you go to Purdue for your PhD?"

He said, "Dad, I made a list of all the astronauts NASA has selected.

And the school that has produced the most astronauts that graduated is Purdue, and so this is why.. - [Catherine] I love it.

- This is why I'm gonna get my PhD.

So the younger generation, this is what I always tell the kids.

I said, "Hey, go for that PhD.

It's so competitive now.

If you really wanna be an astronaut, don't stop at the Masters.

Get your PhD, 'cause it's needed.

The competition's so stiff."

And so that's what I would've told myself.

- Well, you are amazing.

You're making a difference.

Thank you so much for joining us here.

We appreciate it.

Good to see you.

- Thank you very much.

- That's our show for tonight.

For "Horizonte" and Arizona PBS, I'm Catherine Anaya.

Have a great night.

(upbeat music)