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Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. (born November 22, 1942) is an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut, in which capacity he became the first African American to go to space. [1] [2] [a] While assigned to NASA, he remained a USAF officer rising to the rank of colonel.
The crew was historically notable for the participation of Guion Bluford, who became the first African-American to fly in space. [2] The commander, Truly, was the only veteran astronaut of the crew, having flown as the pilot on STS-2 in 1981 and for two of the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) aboard Enterprise in 1977.
The first three African Americans to travel into space – Ron McNair, Guy Bluford and Fred Gregory. African-American astronauts are Americans of African descent who have been part of an astronaut program, whether or not they have traveled into space. African-Americans who have been passengers on space-tourist flights are also included in this ...
NASA didn’t select Black astronauts until 1978, and Guion Bluford became the first African American in space in 1983. Three years earlier, the Soviets launched the first Black astronaut, Arnaldo ...
Guion S. Bluford at the time was already the first African-American in space, having previously flown on STS-8. With STS-61-A he became the first African-American to fly in space twice. [6] He would later go on to fly on STS-39 in 1991 and on STS-53 in 1992. Bluford was a member of the U.S. astronaut class of 1978. [6]
For STS-39, only the payload in the Multi-Purpose Experiment Canister (MPEC) was listed as classified. (Bluford reportedly launched the classified payload by himself while, according to another member of the crew, "the rest of us pretended not to notice". [2]) The crew was divided into two teams for around-the-clock operations.
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