Former astronaut José Hernández delivered a lecture in a packed Campbell Hall on April 29, sharing his journey from working as a migrant farmworker to becoming a NASA astronaut. Prior to the talk, student activists discouraged people from attending in protest of Hernández’s actions as a University of California Regent.

Former astronaut José Hernández delivered a lecture in a packed Campbell Hall on April 29, sharing his journey from working as a migrant farmworker to becoming a NASA astronaut. Shengyu Zhang / Daily Nexus

Hernández is one of 26 board members currently serving on the University of California’s (UC) Board of Regents, which governs the UC’s 10 campuses. Hernández was appointed to this position in August 2021 by Governor Gavin Newsom, and his term will expire in 2033.

Before Hernández gave his lecture, approximately three unaffiliated individuals wearing face masks distributed flyers to lecture attendees outside Campbell Hall describing their concerns with his actions as a Regent. The individuals denied requests for comments from the Nexus.

UC Divest Coalition at UC Santa Barbara shared a post on Instagram the morning of the talk, denouncing actions that Hernández has taken as a UC Regent, including voting in favor of UC executive pay raises, staying silent on international student visa terminations and inaction in response to activist calls for divestment of “publicly traded companies linked to apartheid and genocide.” According to their Instagram profile, UC Divest Coalition at UCSB is “committed to the visions of anti-imperialism & anti-colonialism.” 

“José Hernández wants us to think that his immigrant background makes him for the people. In reality, he’s one of 26 undemocratically elected UC Regents that run the UC like a corporation. As such, he is complicit in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians,” the post read.

Hernández began his lecture by reflecting on his experiences as one of four children in a migrant farmworker family. He described how his family moved frequently between cities in California and Mexico to pursue seasonal agricultural jobs.

In December 1972, 10-year-old Hernández watched a televised broadcast of Apollo 17, the last manned lunar landing mission, leading to his aspirations of becoming an astronaut.

“I watched astronaut Gene Cernan walk on the surface of the moon [and] talk to mission control, ‘Houston.’ I [heard and saw] the reporters, I still remember his name, Walter Cronkite, narrating that whole moonwalk,” Hernández said. “I was hooked. I said, ‘This is what I want to do, I want to be an astronaut.’”

Hernández’s father encouraged him to pursue his goal and instructed him to prepare accordingly. Hernández said that he followed his father’s advice by applying himself to his academics, receiving a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of the Pacific.

After graduating from UCSB in 1986 with a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, Hernández spent 11 years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a research laboratory for defense-oriented projects. While working at the laboratory, Hernández aided in the development of the first full-field digital mammography imaging system, which aids in the early detection of breast cancer.

“Earlier detection means saving lives. The device has been demonstrated to have saved millions of lives since its inception in 1992,” Hernández said. “When people ask me, ‘What’s your proudest moment?’ My proudest moment is this.”

Hernández said that while he was working at the laboratory, he applied for astronaut training at NASA 12 times and was rejected 11 times before being selected in May 2004. 

He trained for two years by learning to fly jets, operating a space shuttle and taking various oral, written, simulated and physical tests. Hernández was selected for NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-128, a mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which took place from Aug. 28 to Sep. 11, 2009. 

The lecture concluded with Hernández discussing his family and life after his experiences as an astronaut. He also promoted several of his other projects, including his books, wine business and a 2023 biopic about his life, “A Million Miles Away,” which stars actor Michael Peña as Hernández. He received a standing ovation from audience members, with several groups of individuals yelling and screaming to express their admiration for Hernández.

After Hernández’s lecture, UCSB chemical engineering professor Susannah Scott moderated a Q&A session. Scott asked Hernández about various topics, including his position as a UC Regent, which he described as overseeing the UC system’s annual budgets, endowment funds, retirement system and policies.

“It’s a hard job with lots of demands, lots of needs, and not enough resources. And they don’t pay you at all for that, they pay me zero,” Hernández said.

Scott concluded the event by questioning Hernández about what the UC Regents are doing to protect their students and community amid the current political climate. 

The Trump administration has targeted higher education institutions, including Columbia University and Harvard University, by cutting their federal funding in response to alleged antisemitism that has occurred on campuses. Hernández said that he is “very proud of how Harvard has stood up to the administration.” 

“I think more universities, including the UCs, should stand up for this,” Hernández said. “However, you’ve got to understand, it’s easier for Harvard, being a private university, to stand up because, yes, they depend on funding from the federal and state governments, but they depend less on a percentage basis, whereas [the] UC system depends heavily on federal funding.”

Hernández said there are concerns about how similar situations could affect the UC system.

“I get lots of emails from students to say, ‘Hey, you guys got to stand up for us.’ I agree. But sometimes, you know, you’ve got to pick your fights,” Hernández said. “Right now, I’ve got no doubt we have a big target on our backs. They’re coming for us. They’re already coming for us in terms of [National Institutes of Health funding cuts]. We’ve got funding cut to the tune of anywhere from $100 to $200 million at every medical center. And that’s just the beginning.”

In order to address these concerns, Hernández said the UC Regents are trying to educate the Trump administration by making it clear how higher education budget cuts are a negative course of action all around.

“We want to take a proactive role in educating the administration that these cuts are bad for America. It’s not bad for UC. It’s not bad for the university. It’s bad for America,” Hernández said. “We’re hoping that we get to the point where they come to their senses and stop these cuts that are going to hurt us in the long run.”