大象传媒

大象传媒 World Service
Last updated:聽11 november, 2009 - 12:43 GMT

A Space Odyssey

Space, the final frontier: Jose Hernandez and his journey from Mexican crop picker to the furthest reaches of space.

Jose Hernandez embodies the American dream perhaps more than most.

His life has taken him far: from being an immigrant crop picker in California to the furthest reaches of space.

On 28 August this year Jose travelled as an astronaut on the US shuttle Discovery, achieving a long held dream.

But it was a dream that once seemed unimaginable.

Jose Hernandez grew up as the son of Mexican immigrant parents who worked as seasonal crop pickers.

Helping in the fields as a nine year old boy, he would look at the moon and dream of going to space.

It might have seemed impossible, but he finally made it happen.

He studied hard, gained an engineering degree, and was ultimately accepted as a NASA astronaut on a Discovery space voyage .

Jose spoke to Matthew Bannister from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and told him all about his incredible journey.