From Farm Fields to Outer Space

Via the Californian.com:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — He toiled in California's farm fields alongside his Mexican migrant worker parents and didn't learn English until he was 12. Now Jose Hernandez, NASA astronaut, is about to rocket into orbit.

His parents will be in Florida next week for space shuttle Discovery's launch, as will his two older brothers and sister, who also worked the cucumber, sugar beet and tomato fields back in the 1960s and 1970s.

In a recent interview, Hernandez reflected:

A lot of kids loved summer vacation. We dreaded it because we knew what that meant. That meant we were going to be working seven days a week in the fields.

The Californian continues, "Hernandez, 47, vividly recalls being dusty, sweaty and tired in the back seat of the family's car after a hard day of labor. Before starting the engine, his father would look back at his children and tell them, 'Remember this feeling because if you guys don't do well in school, this is your future.' All four took it to heart. Each graduated from high school, "a moral victory" for third-grade educated Salvador and Julia Hernandez, now 71 and 67 years old, respectively. Each went to college, "the icing on the cake," according to their youngest child."

The newly-launching astronaut, Jose Hernandez, said this of his parents' pride:

And of course now being an astronaut, to them that's just unbelievable. I think they're higher in orbit than we're going to be in.

(HT: America's Voice)