BLUFORD, GUION S., JR. 1942-

ASTRONAUT

Education

Guion Stewar t Bluford Jr. was the first U.S. astronaut of African American descent. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 22 November 1942, Bluford earned his B.S. in aerospace engineering in 1964 from Penn State University and his Ph.D. from the Air Force Institute of Technology, in the same field, in 1978. While working toward his doctorate he engaged a broad spectrum of aerospace engineering problems and did research in laser physics. His dissertation was titled "A Numerical Solution of Supersonic and Hypersonic Viscous Flow Fields Around Thin Planar Delta Wings."

Air Force Pilot in Vietnam

Beginning in 1967 Bluford served as an Air Force pilot with the 557 Tactical Fighter Squadron in Vietnam. During his service in Vietnam he flew 144 combat missions and served with distinction. Bluford received the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, the Vietnam Service Medal, ten Air Force Air Medals, and three Air Force outstanding unit awards.

Becoming an Astronaut

Chosen from a field of ten thousand candidates, Bluford became one of thirty-five astronauts chosen in 1978 to join the space program. Bluford's intellectual and military training served him well in the astronaut corps. Becoming an astronaut, as he noted in 1979, "gives me a chance to use all my skills and do something that is pretty exciting," and he relished the NASA training he received in oceanography, geology, celestial mechanics, and space navigation. "The job is so fantastic, you don't need a hobby. The hobby is going to work," he told an interviewer.

The First African American in Space

At 2:32 A.M. on 30 August 1983, in a spectacular nighttime launching, Bluford became the first American of African ancestry to travel in space. (He was not, however, the first person of African lineage to fly in space. Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, a Cuban astronaut flying aboard the Soviets' Soyuz 38 in 1980, holds that distinction.) One of two mission specialists aboard the Challenger, Bluford headed numerous scientific and technical experiments, including the deployment of a communications and weather satellite, tests on the shuttle's mechanical arm, and medical experiments on cell tissues which, it was hoped, would prove useful in fighting a variety of illnesses from diabetes to heart disease. Given his flight experience as a U.S. Air Force pilot, Bluford was also assigned the task of assisting the shuttle's commander during their nighttime landing in California's Mojave Desert on 5 September. In a 1983 interview Bluford noted the importance of his achievements: "From a black perspective, my flight on the shuttle was important because it represented another step forward." And, addressing a group of young African Americans, he said, "What I want to pass on to you is that it's very important to set high goals for yourself and realize that if you work hard you will get them."