Jose Hernandez – Former NASA astronaut

José Hernandez is a profound American engineer and former NASA astronaut, best known for working as a mission specialist on the NASA STS-128 mission.

Transforming the aerospace industry to become increasingly more inclusive, he became the first person to use the Spanish Language in space while tweeting.

Having developed an illustrious career over recent years, José has utilised his remarkable leadership skills to run for candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, gaining him a great level of respect throughout the community.

Now serving as a Regent at the University of California, José is an extremely talented professional, and his remarkable achievements have recently been recognised by the University of the Pacific by honouring him with the Medallion of Excellence.

A leading authority in his field, José Hernandez is now highly sought-after to attend a wide range of Hispanic Heritage Month events.

Respected for becoming the recipient of the 2016 National Hispanic Hero Award by the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, José is esteemed for empowering audiences in the Hispanic community to achieve success throughout their careers.

• Entrusted by the President/CEO of an aerospace company to develop strategies that expanded technical services and increased market penetration within the private and international sectors.

• Selected to work on assignmet at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. Worked in the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and helped develop space policy, NASA’s annual budget and interacted with Congressional members to promote the President’s new vision on Space Exploration.

• Selected by NASA to the 19th class of U.S. astronauts in 2004 and flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery as the flight engineer on STS-128 in 2009 to the International Space Station as part of a 14-day science mission.

  Program Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy for the Office of International Material Protection and Cooperation. Entrusted to manage a multi-million dollar budget and oversee the integration and allocation of Department of Energy assets and expertise in nuclear non-proliferation issues.

• Developed award winning quantitative x-ray transport models that allowed for the development of the first full-field digital mammography system for the earlier detection of breast cancer.

• Managed 35 professional technical staff members who supported the Materials and Processes Branch research activities.