López was born in Illinois. His parents are from Puerto Rico. His father was a United States Army officer and surgeon. His mother an elementary school teacher. When he was a child, his father gave him a telescope as a birthday present.for his 10th birthday The Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969 caused him to be very interested in Space Physics. When he was in sixth grade, his father retired from the military and his family moved to Freeport, Illinois. In Fereport, his father started his own medical office. Lopez went to Pearl City High School. There his science teacher taught him to do a small amount of computer programming.