Event Date
The Fall 2023 edition of the Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speaker Series will be held on Tuesday, November 28 at Jackson Hall in the Mondavi Center.
With the release of the film A Million Miles Away last month, millions of people were introduced to José Hernández’s decades-long journey from migrant farmworker to astronaut. Now he will tell his story to a UC Davis audience as a guest in next month’s Chancellor’s Colloquium. His visit to campus Nov. 28 will include a screening of the film and a question-and-answer session with Chancellor Gary S. May.
Hernández was born in French Camp, just south of Stockton, and spent much of his childhood tending fields from Southern California to the Central Valley with his parents and three siblings. They would return to Mexico each winter and start the cycle again each spring. Hernández didn’t learn to speak English until he was 12, but knew he wanted to be an astronaut the moment he heard a radio broadcast announcing NASA’s first Hispanic astronaut. He joined NASA in 2001 and after 11 rejections, was selected to its astronaut class in 2004. Five years later, he flew to the International Space Station as flight engineer and performed robotic operations aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, which turned 40 years old this month. He was also the first person to ever Tweet in Spanish from space.
More information about José Hernández Hernandez and the event is available here. Tickets are required for entry, but are complimentary.