Bludford worked with the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), Spacelab-3 experiments, Space Shuttle systems, verifying flight software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) and the Flight Systems Laboratory (FSL), as well as serving as the Astronaut Office point of contact for generic Spacelab and Shuttle External Tank issues.īludford’s first mission, STS-8, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 30 August 1983. Guion S Bluford Jr began his career as a NASA astronaut in August 1976. His death was a terrible tragedy.” Guion S Bluford Jr: The first African-American in space Fellow MOL classmate and later NASA astronaut Don Peterson said, “Bob was a super guy. He was survived by his wife Barbara and eight year old son Tracey. While serving as an instructor for another pilot practicing landing techniques later used in the Space Shuttle program, Lawrence died in a crash of an F-104 Starfighter supersonic jet on 8 December 1967, at Edwards Air Force Base, California.Īlthough both men ejected from the crash Lawrence did not survive. Lawrence said: “This is nothing dramatic. Lawrence then became the first African-American to successfully finish training as an astronaut via the US national space programme. The United States Air Force (USFA) selected Major Robert H Lawrence Jr, on 30 June 1967, as a member of the third group of aerospace research pilots for the MOL programme. Authorised in August 1965, the MOL programme envisioned a series of min-space stations in low polar Earth orbit, occupied by crews of two people for 30 days at a time. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was designed to obtain high-resolution photographic imagery of America’s Cold War adversaries. ![]() ![]() Robert Lawrence: The world’s first African-American astronaut Since Dwight left NASA, a total of 14 African-American astronauts travelled into space and an additional 7 African-Americans became astronauts, but never entered space. Dwight began astronaut training in 1961 but then resigned in 1966 after racial politics forced him to leave NASA.Īlthough Dwight did not make it into space, he paved the way for African-Americans to enter the NASA training programme. In honour of Black History Month, Innovation News Network would like to showcase some of the African-American astronauts that risked their lives in the name of space research.Įd Dwight was the first African-American astronaut to enter the Air Force training programme, from which NASA select astronauts.
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