Donna Hernandez

Jose Hernandez Crosses Borders Beyond the Stars

More than forty years after the first space launch to the moon, Jose Hernandez, a Californian-born American astronaut born to Mexican immigrants, joins Discovery’s 37th mission to space. This flight marks the first time that two Mexican-American astronauts have flown together, the other astronaut being fellow Californian Danny Olivas. Discovery will be carrying the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module and two new science research modules that will allow astronauts currently living in space to have tools similar to those used in science laboratories here.

Jose is also twittering from space as @Astro_Jose; foollowing the #onorbit conversation shows excited comments from around the world, mostly en Español.

During an interview last year, Jose Hernandez told reporters that he was also planning on taking a small Mexican flag and a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the International Space station. During that interview he also showed what he said were freeze-dried tacos, ready to go into orbit.

If I were going to space – I’d definitely take a Puerto Rican flag and some rice and beans with roasted pork – oh yeah, and an aguacate…

If you were going to space – what would you take?

To learn more about the mission, check it out at NASA.

Posted at 2:46 PM, Sep 02, 2009 in Science | Permalink | View Comments