LOS ANGELES — José Hernández was born into a family of migrant workers who journeyed from Michoacan, Mexico, to the agriculture fields of California.

In 2009, Hernandez became the first migrant farmworker to become a NASA astronaut. His impressive achievement is captured on Prime Video’s “A Million Miles Away,” based on his book, “Reaching for the Stars.”

The film is directed by Alejandra Márquez Abella, who told Spectrum News that, as a Mexican movie director, she wanted to portray the community with authenticity.

“I didn’t want to embarrass our community. I wanted to honor it. I wanted everyone to see themselves accurately. I wanted to honor the people who work in the fields and bring the food to everyone’s table,” she said.

“A Million Miles Away,” Abella says, is a movie that she hopes will make people not be embarrassed for their job.

(Image courtesy of Prime Video/Daniel Daza)

“There is honor in everything we do. It is the thing that is bringing you your ethics, your power. We should embrace it and praise it,” she said.

In an interview with Spectrum News, Hernández says the important elements made it into the film, but if given more film time, he would have loved to add why he left NASA.

“When I returned from space, they retired the space shuttle fleet. The only game in town was to go with the Russians,” he said.

Hernández says that had he continued as an astronaut, he would have been gone 90% of the time over four years.

“I made the decision to basically resign from NASA because I could not see my wife do all the work, with five kids, for the next four to five years without me being present,” he said.

Michael Peña and Rosa Salazar play the real-life José and Adela Hernández.

Pre-production for the film began during the pandemic, and the only way for Peña and Hernández to get to know each other was over Zoom. He says that while Peña is a great actor who nailed his personality, Salazar stole the show.

“When I was looking up at the screen, I was looking at my wife. That was Adelita. She nailed Adelita,” he said. 

“A Million Miles Away” is now streaming on Prime Video. 

In the film, Hernández, as a kid, asks, “What are stars for?”

Click the arrow above to watch the interview and see Hernández and Abella’s answers.