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STS-8 was the eighth NASA Space Shuttle mission and the third flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched on August 30, 1983, and landed on September 5, 1983, conducting the first night launch and night landing of the Space Shuttle program. It also carried the first African-American astronaut, Guion Bluford.
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.
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.
Guion Bluford – Astronaut and first African American to fly in space (STS-8, STS-61-A, STS-39, STS-53) John Boccieri – Member of Congress of Ohio. Paul Bogart – Five-time Emmy Award-winning television director and producer; Richard Bong – American Ace of Aces; Frank Borman – Astronaut (Gemini 7 and Apollo 8 – first flight to orbit ...
It was Discovery's 15th flight. ... Guion Bluford Fourth and last spaceflight ... James S. Voss Second spaceflight Mission Specialist 3 Michael R. Clifford First ...
Guion Bluford: 1958 c. Air Force colonel; astronaut who participated in four flights of the Space Shuttle–STS-8, STS-39, STS-53, and STS-61-A; first African American in space; designated as the emissary to return the Challenger flag to a Boy Scout troop Matthew Bogusz: 2004 Mayor of Des Plaines, Illinois [54] Charles H. Bonesteel III † 1925
Thus, in 1978, a new group of 35 astronauts was selected after 9 years without new astronauts, including the first American female astronauts, with one of them, Judith Resnik, also being the first Jewish American astronaut, as well as the first African-American astronauts to fly, Guion Bluford and Frederick D. Gregory (the first black astronaut ...