Dr. José Hernández is a University of California Regent and the President and CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering, LLC, an aerospace engineering consulting firm. From 2001 to 2011, Dr. Hernández worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in various roles including legislative analyst, branch chief, materials research engineer, and astronaut. He was assigned to the Space Shuttle Discovery and served as a flight engineer on its penultimate mission, STS-128, which completed construction of the International Space Station. During this 14-day mission, Dr. Hernández and his crew delivered and installed over 7 tons of equipment to the ISS.
Prior to his tenure at NASA, Dr. Hernández spent 17 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he contributed to the X-ray laser project and co-developed the first full-field digital mammography system for early breast cancer detection. Additionally, he worked in the nuclear non-proliferation field, serving as the Lab’s Deputy Program Manager for the Russian Highly Enriched Uranium Implementation Program and as a Program Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of International Material Protection and Cooperation.
Aside from running his aerospace consulting company, Dr. Hernandez has authored three books and is currently working on publishing his fourth. One of his books is a selfpenned autobiography titled Reaching for the Stars, which served as the basis for the Amazon Prime Video movie A Million Miles Away, starring Michael Peña. He has come full circle with his roots, as he also owns and operates a vineyard, producing three varieties of wine under his Tierra Luna Cellars label. Dr. Hernandez is also a world renowned and very busy motivational speaker. His autographed books, wines and speaker bookings can be obtained through his tierralunacellars.com website.
Dr. Hernández holds a Master’s degree in Signals and Systems Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Pacific. He has been honored with nine honorary Doctorate degrees.
