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A hero who knows no limits

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Heroes.
    I can think of no better moment to stop and honor those Latinos amongst us who have overcome what, at times, appeared to be insurmountable odds than Hispanic Heritage Month.
I’m going to use this space to talk about a man who is a dear friend, who overcame obstacles and who, at this moment, is finally back on tierra firma after spending 13 days orbiting in space as a member of the space shuttle Discovery.
Jose M. Hernandez served as a mission specialist II/flight engineer. For Jose, this was the culmination of a dream that was years in the making. Through his hard work and dogged determination, his dream came true.
Hernandez was born in San Joaquin County, just outside Stockton. His parents, Salvador and Julia Hernandez were migrant farm workers, who every year — along with Jose’s two brothers and sister — would leave La Piedad, Michoacán and head to California.
Each March, the family followed the harvest, starting in the Imperial Valley and finishing in the Stockton area. By mid November, they would begin the two-day car trip back to Michoacán.
Jose still tells the tale of how his dad would heat cans of Campbell’s soup on the car’s engine block.
Jose didn’t learn English until he was 12. And although his family settled in Stockton — at the urging of one of Jose’s teachers, who saw potential in him and his siblings — it was by no means the end of laboring in the fields. On weekends and during school vacations, Jose and his siblings continued to toil alongside his farm worker parents.
It was in those fields that the seed to go into space took root.
Jose was hoeing a row of beets when he heard over his transistor radio that Franklin Chang-Diaz, a Costa Rican, would be the first Latino in space. Jose was a senior in high school at the time.
It was at that moment Jose decided to follow in Chang-Diaz’s footsteps.
But making it to liftoff was no easy task. Although he held a bachelor’s degree from the University of the Pacific and a master’s from UC Santa Barbara, getting into the astronaut program was no easy task.
Jose applied 12 times before being accepted in 2004 into the 19th astronaut class.
His is a story of determination, inspiration and above all else — hope. He held tight to the hope that one day he would fly in space. He can now say, “Mission accomplished.”
Jose will receive a hero’s welcome when he gets back. Plans are underway for a huge celebration tentatively slated for October in Stockton.
His future plans aren’t concrete yet. There’s talk of working for NASA. And there’s the possibility of a run for the U.S. Congress.
But for now, Jose is still soaking in the experience of floating among the stars.
For the past two weeks, he lived his dream.
And just like Jose did long ago planting seeds that would one day reap a bountiful harvest, Jose planted a different type of seed while he aboard Discovery.
It was the seed of hope; one that will reap a harvest of endless possibilities for other Latinos for generations to come.
And his field was, of course, the endless expanse of space.