GUION BLUFORD (1942-) is NASA’s first black astronaut in space.
Bluford was born in West Philadelphia on November 22, 1942. Bluford loved finding out how things were put together, but what amazed him was how things flew.
After graduating from Overbrook Senior High School, Bluford received a BS in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1964. He then entered active duty with the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a pilot during the Vietnam War and flew 144 combat missions.
Upon returning home, Bluford earned a master of science degree with distinction in aerospace engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1974; a doctor of philosophy in aerospace engineering with a minor in laser physics from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1978.
Bluford was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1978. He first went into space in August 1983, three years after Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, flew into space aboard the Soviet Union’s Soyuz 38 mission. Bluford’s 1983 mission aboard the space shuttle Challenger included the deployment of an Indian communications satellite and the first launch and landing of a space shuttle at night.
In November 1985, Bluford again flew aboard the space shuttle Challenger on a mission dedicated to German scientific experiments. Challenger carried Spacelab, a modular system that fits in the space shuttle’s huge cargo bay and provides extra room for astronauts to carry out scientific experiments. In 1987, Bluford earned his MBA.
Bluford’s third spaceflight was aboard the space shuttle Discovery in April 1991. He supervised experiments for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the launch of a small DOD satellite.
Bluford flew aboard Discovery again on his last space shuttle mission in December 1992 on another DOD mission. This mission included studies of how muscle, blood and bone are affected by the microgravity of space and a test of how small space debris can be tracked from the earth. With the completion of this flight, Bluford logged 688 hours in space.
Bluford left NASA after his fourth mission in July 1993 to become a vice president at NYMA, Inc., an aerospace consulting firm in Maryland. He and his wife, Linda, have two sons.
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Concrete Loop features ‘Black History Spotlights’ each week honoring black people who have played pivotal roles in history. submissions are welcome.
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Go Black people, go! We have so much to be proud of. Thanks for continuing to spread the knowledge CL!
I love these black history spotlights. Keep up the good work CP!
**CL even!
Thanks for the educational posts CL! Guion Bluford graduated from the same high school that I did. (Overbrook High – home of Wilt Chamberlain also). Mr Bluford actually visited our school when I was a student there. Black pride!!!
GOOD PIECE
I thought the first black astronaut was Ronald E. McNair.
Good piece CL however Bluford became the second African American in space. (the first person of African ancestry in space was the Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez.) So Bluford to historians is considered the second.
#6 Ronald McNair was a black astronaut but he died during the launch of the Challenger so he never actually made the journey.
Hope that helped.
#7: Méndez was first, but Bluford was NASA’s first black astronaut; Méndez was part of the Soviet Union’s program.
Thank you so much for the interesting black history facts all year around!
i believe that here is nothing in space worth discovering. if there where wouldnt they have found it by now. There is no oxygen, no plant life, you wont be able to build condos on it. And if they did find something they would just rape the land until it was useless. So what’s the point? just so we can say we did it? I also have a theory of sorts. Since time is infinite, What if all those other planets were once called Earth and we have all been there before? I mean, because we cant go to heaven or hell before the day of judgment, and God is the God of a 2nd, 3rd, sometimes 15th chance, so maybe we get to do things over and over until we get it right. Not reincarnation per se, but kinda, except we come back as ourselves but everytime we get to have a different outcome. What about dejavu? When you experience that sensation maybe we should be mindful of our situation and surroundings at that moment because that could be one of the time that you get to make a different decision.
# 10, that is the silliest thing i have ever heard..but thanks CL for the spot light..never knew..
Thanks CL…my ignorant a** thought that Ronald McNair was the first. See, this is why I love the Black History Spot Lights.
@ 10…..yeah that was the craziest comment I’ve all day.
Very rich article!
Thanks J.Dakar
Thanks Cl. I love these types of post. Never too old to learn about history!!!
J.Dakar that picture is scary. It’s like you’re looking right at me. How do you put your picture on here?
1942 sounds like a long time ago, but he’s only 66 yrs old. Big ups to my fellow airman. Ya’ll, go to this website called Urban Dictionary and look up the word ‘big ups’. I can’t believe they have a slang word dictionary. lol
@10
There’s nothing crazy or silly about your comment. It is simply that you thought and said something that was far above the intellectual level of #11 and #13. Only a fool would believe that space exploration is worthwhile for the simple fact that billions of dollars are being spent on space when the earth is in ruins. There isn”t anything in space worth discovering and the reason why they are there is because they are building space stations for the elite to go to when they finally use those nuclear weapons that they’ve stockpiled. In addition to that, they deploy satellites to enable them to monitor the people one earth, modify the weather, and watch for Christ’s second coming. THAT is what the “space program” is about and it is referenced prophetically in the scriptures (Obadiah verse 4). That is why Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin said, “The eagle has landed!”, when they faked that moon landing. It was to fulfill the prophecy in Obadiah verse 4. In addition to that, the scriptures do speak on reincarnation, deja vu, and out of body experiences. There’s nothing crazy about what you said. You just have a brain, unlike most of these people. I will say though, we were never on these other planets. The Most High created the earth to be inhabited, not the other planets.
This is why i love Concreteloop
What’s up JUDAH, my no nonsense one!
just my thoughts ladies and gentlemen, just what i was thinking at the time… And it makes sense to me so SCREW YOU. Judah i thought you may have something to say. I appreciate it. But i dont believe they faked the moon landing i mean maybe- has anyone been back since? If not then yeah they may have faked it, I did hear that back in the day they wanted to test the atomic bomb on the moon. Leave it to white folks to want to do some dumb stuff like that. If you blow up the moon that’ll destroy earth. Gravitational pull and all.
Also so maybe there is only one earth but we could still get “do overs”. We dont know what happens when you die. I dont beieve in pergatory.
i have something to get off my chest. now i know this is black history…but to me it seems like its only black american history. what about the canadians, and europeans and the hispanics etc who all helped make history.
caqn we include some of them…
and i know i emailed j dakar an article about Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, the first black governor general of canada.
yes i did just say her excellency…thats the official name…
i still have yet to see you post the article man…
@BOOOOOOOO
The do-over will come when Christ comes to take the wicked out of power. The earth will be burnt and then replenished, just as it was flooded and replenished in the time of Noah. The scriptures do speak on death, and after death experiences, but that is another topic. You’re right, there isn’t a “purgatory”. This life is purgatory. For some this life is heaven and for others it is hell. Purgatory is a pagan belief that was grafted into the teachings on the Bible. Christ said that we will receive many “mansions” (John 14:2). He was talking about instellar travel, and interplanetary travel. That’s why Christ specified that the mansions were in “my Father’s house”. His Father’s house is the cosmos, the heavens, and everything in it (Psalms 33:6). There is no need for man to explore the outer depths of the galaxy and universe now in the weak state that we are in. A man, and a race of wisdom makes sure that his own home is on point before he worries about the outermost limits.
If you dont mind please visit my website and leave some black history people THX http://www.readwithbc.blogspot.com!