After 40 years of dreaming about space and five tense days of waiting, José Hernández was finally sent 220 miles into the sky Friday night aboard a blazing space shuttle Discovery.
Hernández and Discovery launched at 9:02 p.m. from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
About 700 well-wishers in Stockton gathered for a second time at the University of the Pacific for a launch party. Unlike Monday's last-minute delay, this time they had something to cheer about.
"It was phenomenal to be part of that," said Johnny Susbilla, 33, of Stockton. "To see a regular guy from Stockton go up there makes me feel like your child can go there, too."
Susbilla brought his two children, ages 6 and 8, to witness the launch.
"It's very inspirational to see him make it," UOP freshman Alexis Duclous, 18, of Elk Grove said of Hernández. "It's nice to see someone from Stockton who is home-grown doing something great. He's keeping a community together. They (the crowds here) have community pride."
As the crowd at the DeRosa University Center waited for the launch, at zero hour the Internet-fed picture on the center's 20-foot-tall screen froze. The crowd let out a collective disappointed sigh, but people cheered when the picture returned about 30 seconds later.
The audio was uninterrupted, letting the well-wishers know the launch was successful.
"This is our astronaut from Stockton," another member of the crowd, Joanna Louis-Parsons, 53, of Stockton, said. "I'm really excited about it. I remember when we first walked on the moon, and just to see someone from Stockton going to space is amazing."
Eddie Hernández, 33, of Stockton, a 1994 Franklin High School graduate, brought his four children, ages 4 months to 15 years old, and his wife, Isela, to celebrate the launch.
"I wanted to show my son, because he is really into space," Eddie Hernández said. "That's our local product. In this day and age, when Stockton has such a negative reputation, it's nice to have someone we're proud of."
The launch had been delayed three times because of bad weather and technical problems. On Aug. 24, the shuttle, fueled and ready to go with the seven astronauts of mission STS-128 suited and strapped in, was delayed by thunderstorms 10 minutes before liftoff.
The mission was further postponed during the week while NASA resolved issues with a fuel valve.
By Friday, the technical problems were fixed. Discovery's external tank was filled with about 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
Hernández, 47, and the rest of the Discovery crew -- once more buckled and braced -- blasted off in a high-velocity, 17,000 mph, face-fluttering ride.
About six hours before the launch, Hernández sent a message out on Twitter: "Hopefully, this is my last tweet before I go into space! So far all systems are go."
For the duration of the 13-day mission, his Twitter messages will come from space.
Hernández is part of a mission to the International Space Station. As flight engineer and Mission Specialist 2, Hernández is assisting the commander and the pilot during the flight, suiting up astronauts for spacewalks and operating the robotic arm that transports delivery loads to the space station.
Hernández was born and raised in San Joaquín County and is a graduate of Franklin High School and UOP. He sits on the university's Board of Regents.
As a 7-year-old boy, Hernández hoped one day to travel in space.
After a week of emotional ups and downs, his wish was finally realized Friday.