Guion “Guy” Bluford is a former NASA astronaut who was the first African-American to fly into space. He flew four shuttle missions.
Bluford’s class of astronauts from 1978 included two other African-Americans: Ron McNair (who later died on the space shuttle Challenger in 1986) and Fred Gregory (who after flying in space, went on to become a NASA deputy administrator.)
“All of us knew that one of us would eventually step into that role,” Bluford later told NASA about being the first. “I probably told people that I would probably prefer not being in that role … because I figured being the No. 2 guy would probably be a lot more fun.”
In the next decade, Bluford would fly three more times as a mission specialist aboard NASA space shuttles. His next mission — STS-61A, also aboard Challenger, in late 1985 — was so packed with things to do that Bluford’s shift often needed help from other crew members to fix meals. The eight crewmembers were doing the first Spacelab mission, which was partially run under the German Space Operations Center — another first for NASA.
“After the mission, [the Germans] invited us and our wives to Germany to attend a technical conference highlighting the results of our mission,” Bluford recalled in a 2004 oral interview.
“It was a proud moment for all of us as we learned the results of some of the experiments that we performed during flight. The trip also gave me an opportunity to tour Europe with the wife and show her some of the sights that I had seen while training there.”
Credit : Space.com
Picture Credit : Google
