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NASA launched the first Salvadoran-American into space! Dr. Frank Rubio traveled to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from Kazakhstan. The astronaut’s trip to outer space only took six hours, and he will orbit the planet for six months.
The Los Angeles-born and Florida-raised doctor and former US Army helicopter pilot enters NASA’s history books alongside José Hernández, the Latino astronaut whose story will be immortalized in a film set to be released in 2023 on Amazon Prime Video.
Hernández, from a family of Mexican farmers, worked hard to get a job at NASA; now, he is part of the Latino and Hispanic astronauts working for the space agency.
After obtaining a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Pacific University of Stockton, he began working for the United States Department of Energy. Knowing his true passion was the universe, Hernández started his process of becoming a NASA astronaut.
After being rejected by NASA 11 times in 2001, he secured a position as head of the Materials and Processes Branch. He later was chosen as a specialist for Discovery’s seven-member manned mission, where he was in charge of installing and maintaining computer systems.
José‘s inspiring story will make it to the small screen in a film that will be released in 2023 on Amazon Prime Video.