Born into a family of migrant workers, toiling in the fields by the age of six, Jose M. Hern ndez dreamed of traveling through the night skies on a rocket ship. REACHING FOR THE STARS is the inspiring story of how he realized that dream, becoming the first Mexican-American astronaut. Hern ndez didn't speak English till he was 12, and his peers often joined gangs, or skipped school. And yet, by his twenties he was part of an elite team helping develop technology for the early detection of breast cancer. He was turned down by NASA eleven times on his long journey to donning that famous orange space suit. Hern ndez message of hard work, education, perseverance, of "reaching for the stars," makes this a classic American autobiography.