Collectibles

Item Description

This is a great collector's item for any child who dreams of the stars or any adult fan of the space program! This is a 1/200 wooden scale model of the Space Shuttle Discovery. It is autographed by former NASA astronaut Jose M. Hernandez. This beautiful handcrafted resin model spacecraft measures 11" x 4.5" x 7" and comes with a base stand, ready for display!

About Jose M. Hernandez

NASA engineer Jose Hernandez wanted to fly in space ever since he heard that the first Hispanic-American had been chosen to travel into space.

One of four children in a migrant farming family from Mexico, Hernandez - who didn't learn English until he was 12 years old - spent much of his childhood on what he calls "the California circuit," traveling with his family from Mexico to Southern California each March, then working northward to the Stockton area by November, picking strawberries and cucumbers at farms along the route. Then they would return to Mexico for Christmas, and start the cycle all over again come Spring.

After graduating high school in Stockton, Hernandez enrolled at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering and was awarded a full scholarship to the graduate program at the University of California in Santa Barbara, where he continued his engineering studies. In 1987 he accepted a full-time job with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he had worked as a co-op in college. 

While at Lawrence Livermore, Hernandez worked on signal and image processing applications in radar imaging, computed tomography, and acoustic imaging. Later in his career, Hernandez worked on developing quantitative x-ray film imaging analysis techniques for the x-ray laser program. Hernandez applied these techniques in the medical physics arena and co-developed the first full-field digital mammography imaging system. This system has proven useful for detecting breast cancer at an earlier stage than present film/screen mammography techniques. Hernandez has won recognition awards for his work on this project. He has also worked in the international arena where he represented Lawrence Livermore and the U.S. Department of Energy on Russian nuclear non-proliferation issues.

Jose Hernandez joined the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in 2001. He had many duties during his NASA career and was selected as an Astronaut candidate in May of 2004. He went into space on STS-128 Discovery on the 30th mission to the International Space Station.  He was in space from August 28th through September 11th, 2009.

About the Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011. Prior to its retirement, Discovery was NASA's Orbiter Fleet leader, having flown 39 successful missions in over 27 years of service. In 1984, Discovery became the third operational orbiter following Columbia and Challenger, and made its final touchdown at Kennedy Space Center on March 9, 2011 at 10:57:17 CST, having spent a cumulative total of one full year (365 days) in space. Discovery has performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions. Discovery also flew the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, and was the only orbiter to take other parts of the telescope to space. Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endeavour and Atlantis.

To learn more about Jose M Hernandez, please visit http://astrojh.com