FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN IN SPACE MARKS 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF FLIGHT
When NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off on August 30, 1983, one
crewmember chuckled with excitement all the way into space, and he
made history along the way.
Thirty years later, Guion S. "Guy" Bluford's memories of his historic
flight (STS-8) are just as vivid as they were on that summer night.
It was the first Space Shuttle launch and landing at night and the
first time an African-American flew into space.
"It was around midnight and it was raining," Bluford recalls today.
"We came down the elevator, heading to 'the bird,' what we called the
Shuttle, and all these people were standing there cheering us on.
When the clock counted down and we took off, I just laughed, it was
so much fun," he said.
Though his achievement instantly thrust him into the spotlight as a
role model for young African-Americans, Bluford says his goal was
never to be the first African-American in space. "I recognized the
importance of it, but I didn't want to be a distraction for my crew,"
he said. "We were all contributing to history and to our continued
exploration of space."
Instead, Bluford says his goal was "to make others feel comfortable"
with African-Americans in space.
"I felt I had to do the best job I could for people like the Tuskegee
Airmen, who paved the way for me, but also to give other people the
opportunity to follow in my footsteps," Bluford said. The Tuskegee
Airmen made history as the first black flying squadron in World War
II.
Bluford's interest in flying dates back to his days in junior high
school, making model airplanes and wanting to learn more about jet
and rocket engines. Though he wanted to become an aerospace engineer,
he became an Air Force fighter pilot in 1966, eventually flying
combat missions over Vietnam. When he returned from the war, Bluford
began teaching others to fly, but soon decided he was ready to learn
more about flying at a much higher altitude.
In 1977 he applied to NASA to become an astronaut. A year later, he
was selected for the program, along with two other African-Americans,
Fred Gregory and Ronald McNair. But it wasn't until 1982, in a
meeting with George Abbey, then director of flight crew operations at
NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), that Bluford realized he was
headed to space.
"Dale Gardner, Dan Brandenstein, Dick Truly and I were all sitting in
Abbey's office," he recalls. "Abbey said, 'I'm looking for a crew for
STS-8, and I was wondering if you were interested?' It was quite a
thrill."
Before the flight, NASA kept Bluford out of the news media spotlight,
so he could focus on his mission. It also helped; much of the
attention was still focused on Sally Ride, who had just made history
on the previous Shuttle flight as the first American woman in space.
Bluford and the crew of STS-8, including fifth crewmember Bill
Thornton, trained at JSC for 15 months, before heading to Kennedy
Space Center, Fla., for their rainy launch early on Aug. 30.
With the cockpit dark, Bluford recalls fellow astronaut Shannon Lucid,
who would fly on five future Shuttle missions, strapping him into his
seat between Brandenstein, the pilot, and Shuttle Commander Truly.
The clock counted down, and the Challenger lifted off. Over the next
six days, Bluford and the crew deployed INSAT-1B, a multipurpose
Indian satellite, and they conducted medical measurements to
understand the effects of space flight on the human body.
The one thing he didn't have to worry about was his appetite. "We had
little sandwiches tied to our seats, and when we got on orbit a
couple of crewmembers weren't feeling well as they adapted to space,
so they passed on lunch," Bluford said. "I felt fine. I not only ate
my lunch, but part of theirs, too," he said.
Following Challenger's successful early morning landing at 12:30 a.m.,
Sept. 5, 1983, Bluford went on a three-month national speaking tour,
thanking the public for supporting him, the crew of STS-8 and the
Shuttle program. He was a crewmember on three more Shuttle missions,
STS-61A, STS-39 and STS-53, before retiring from the Astronaut Corps
in 1993. "I was very lucky to have had four successful missions,"
Bluford said. "When you went out to the pad with me, everything
pretty much went as planned."
For more information about Guy Bluford, on the Internet, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/bluford-gs.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/workinginspace/bluford_1st_african_amer.html
On January 28, 1986, NASA Challenger mission STS-51-L ended in tragedy when the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. On board was physicist Ronald E. McNair, who was the second African American to enter space. But first, he was a kid with big dreams in Lake City, South Carolina.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced Tuesday the selection of Leland D. Melvin as the agency's new associate administrator for education, effective immediately.
Since April 2010, Melvin has been assigned to the Office of Education at Headquarters leading the Education Design Team. His job was to develop a strategy to improve NASA's education offerings and to assist the agency in establishing goals, structures, processes and evaluation techniques to implement a sustainable and innovative science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education program. He also served as the partnership development manager for the agency's new Summer of Innovation education initiative, aimed at engaging middle school students in STEM activities during the summer break.
NASA is collaborating with award-winning R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige to encourage young women to pursue exciting experiences and career choices through studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In this first of two public service announcements, Blige appears with veteran NASA space shuttle astronaut Leland Melvin.
Both PSAs are now on NASA TV and the agency's website at: http://www.nasa.gov/soi. NASA's Summer of Innovation (SoI) project and Blige's Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN) both show students the many possibilities available if they follow their dreams and reach for the stars.
The SoI project is part of the President's Educate to Innovate Campaign. It started earlier this summer to help keep middle school students engaged in fun and stimulating STEM-related activities during the school break.
"Working with FFAWN is a rare opportunity to help spread the STEM message into communities not always readily accessible to us," Melvin said. "Mary's presence can help NASA make the STEM message more appealing to these communities and increase the pipeline of underrepresented students going into these disciplines."
ASME's monthly comic book series features events in mechanical engineering and ASME during the past 130 years — artist Ron Spellman's look into the life of Garrett Morgan -- hero of engineering!
Join NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., as they celebrated Black History Month. Each week in February 2009, a different African-American employee from GSFC was featured. The employees talked about their careers, career paths and, in some cases, obstacles and challenges they have faced. Click the NASA GSFC link for MPEG-4 downloads.
