California Judge Rules Ballot Can List Hernandez as 'Astronaut'

摘要

Former NASA spaceflyer Jose Hernandez, who is running in California for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives this year, can call himself an astronaut on the ballot, a judge ruled March 29.Hernandez, a Democrat, flew on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-128 mission in 2009 but left NASA more than a year ago, in January 2011. California Republicans had argued that Hernandez should not be allowed to list his occupation as "astronaut/scientist/engineer" on the ballot. But Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly disagreed, saying that Hernandez is an astronaut for "more than the time spent riding a rocket.Hernandez is vying to represent California's 10th Congressional District, in the state's agriculture-heavy Central Valley. Hernandez knows the Valley and its leading industry well, having grown up picking fruits and vegetables all over California as the son of migrant farm workers.