Guion “Guy” Bluford became the first African-American in space when he joined the crew of the first space shuttle mission to launch and land at night.
|
Guion "Guy" Bluford exercises onboard STS-8. (NASA) |
"We had to, as a crew, figure out the techniques that were required to launch the thing at night and as well as land the thing at night," Dr. Bluford told collectSPACE in 2002 on the anniversary of his 1983 STS-8 mission, which was dedicated to deploying a multipurpose India-built satellite and conducting medical measurements to understand the effects of space flight on the human body.
Bluford's first flight and the three that followed also blazed the path forward into space for African-Americans.
"I feel very proud of being a trailblazer with reference to space flight, particularly for African-Americans," he said. "I recognize I was one of several African-Americans that came into the program, and I think we have all made significant contributions to the program."
Bluford's other missions included the first of the German-directed Spacelab science flights (STS-61A in 1985) and two Department of Defense-dedicated missions (STS-39 in 1991 and STS-53 in 1992).
After retiring from NASA in 1993, Bluford took posts in the aerospace sector, and for the past 16 years, has served on several industry boards. Currently, he serves as the president of Aerospace Technology Group, an engineering consulting organization in Ohio, and is associated with the Coalition for Space Exploration.
POST COMMENTS BELOW:
COLLECTSPACE.COM
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-121809a.html
