Northern California Astronaut to Fly on Next Space Shuttle Mission

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — NASA’s next space shuttle mission will carry Jose Hernandez, who considers Stockton, Calif., his hometown, into orbit.

Hernandez will serve as a mission specialist on STS-128 space shuttle Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station. It will be his first trip to space.

Discovery, with its crew of seven astronauts, is scheduled to launch at 10:36 p.m. PDT Aug. 24, 2009 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. To cover the launch on-site, U.S. reporters must request Kennedy credentials online at:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

The 13-day flight will deliver science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and a treadmill named after comedian Stephen Colbert. The name Colbert received the most entries in NASA’s online poll to name the station’s Node 3. NASA named the node Tranquility.

Hernandez earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of the Pacific in Stockton in 1984, and a Master of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California-Santa Barbara in 1986.

Hernandez is providing insights about his mission preparation on Twitter in English and Spanish. His Twitter account is astro_jose, and he can be followed at: http://www.twitter.com/astro_jose

For Hernandez’s complete biography, visit: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/hernandez-jm.html

For the latest information about the STS-128 mission and crew, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle