Ed Dwight, America’s first black astronaut candidate, will finally fly into space at the age of 90.
The Air Force veteran will be one of six crew members aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight beyond Earth’s atmosphere, Jeff Bezos’ space venture announced Thursday.
“[Dwight] “He was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as America’s first black astronaut candidate, but was not given the opportunity to fly into space,” Blue Origin said. said in a statement.
Born in Kansas in 1933, Dwight was asked by the 35th president to join Chuck Yeager’s test pilot program at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert in 1961.
At the time, he boasted 1,500 hours of jet flight time, a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering, and three consecutive “distinguished” ratings from military brass.
Despite being favored by Kennedy through rigorous training, he was not selected for the astronaut corps.
Dwight recalled Yeager telling him privately, “How good the white people were, I shouldn’t be there.”
It wasn’t until 1983 that the first African American, Guion Bruford, reached space.
Dwight spent ten years as an entrepreneur and then dedicated his life’s work to telling the story of Black history through the medium of sculpture.
Dwight, whose father played in the Negro Leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs, painted iconic black figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. He has created over 130 large-scale monuments.
Joining Dwight on his monumental journey is venture capitalist Mason Angell. French winemaker Sylvain Chiron. software engineer Kenneth L. Hess; Adventurer Carol Schaller. and pilot Gopi Sotakula.
The company said each crew member will carry a postcard into space on behalf of Blue Origin’s Club for the Future foundation, which provides students with access to space on Blue Origin rockets.
Blue Origin hasn’t disclosed how much each participant is paying for the once-in-a-lifetime 11-minute zero-gravity experience, but tickets for the very first seats were sold for $28 million in 2021.
But Dwight is flying free. He is sponsored by Space for Humanity and the Jason and Jamie Robinson Foundation.
This latest adventure marks the seventh manned flight for the New Shepard program and the 25th in its history.
The announcement comes more than 18 months after New Shepard suffered a “thermal structural failure” during an uncrewed flight, causing the rocket to crash to Earth seconds after liftoff.
Dates for future flights have not yet been disclosed.
with post wire
