Potential House candidate heads to space

Jose Hernandez has risen from farm laborer to NASA astronaut, and he may have Congress on his mind eventually.

The 47-year old mission specialist will be part of a seven-man crew headed to the International Space Station on the space agency’s next mission, scheduled to blast off in the early morning hours of Aug. 25, NASA announced Monday.

The mission will be Hernandez’s first trip to space, but it may not be his last time in the national spotlight. Hernandez told the Vida En El Valle newspaper last month that he is considering a run for Congress.

“A lot of people say I ought to think about going into politics,” he told the paper. A Stockton resident, Hernandez said he will be watching the 2010 redistricting process, which could juggle lines in the rapidly-growing area between the Bay Area in the west, Sacramento to the north and Modesto to the south.

Stockton is in San Joaquin County, the majority of which is represented by Rep. Jerry McNerney (D). Rep. Dennis Cardoza’s (D) district includes part of the county too.

“If I see any inkling that the possibility may exist, because I have some good ideas for our district, I would take it,” Hernandez told the paper.

Hernandez, who considers himself a conservative Democrat, has been a NASA employee since 2001, and has been waiting for his first space flight since completing astronaut training in 2006, according to his NASA biography.

–Reid Wilson