José Moreno Hernández  was born on August 7, 1962 and is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut.

Hernández was born in French Camp, California, but calls Stockton, California, his hometown. His family is from La Piedad, Michoacán, Mexico.  As a child, Hernández worked alongside his family and other farmworkers throughout the fields of California, harvesting crops and moving from one town to another. He attended many schools and didn’t learn to speak English until he was 12.  His first memory of space is about adjusting the television in order to watch the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

José Hernández participated in Upward Bound during high school, a Federal TRIO program that prepares students for college. He graduated from Franklin High School in Stockton. While in college, he was involved in the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program, an academic preparation program that provides support to students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds so they can attain four-year degrees in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields.

He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Pacific in 1984. In 1986, Hernández earned an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  In 2001, Hernández joined the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas.  After three years and being turned down eleven times for astronaut training by NASA, Hernández was selected in May 2004.

Hernández worked various technical assignments until his selection on July 15, 2008, as a mission specialist on the STS-128 mission, which launched on August 28, 2009. While in orbit, Hernández became the first person to use the Spanish language in space while tweeting.  Hernández is the subject of the 2023 biopic A Million Miles Away in which he is portrayed by Michael Peña.