Learning Center Our Enshrinees

Guion “Guy” S. Bluford Jr.

• Started college at Penn State and holds a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate in aerospace engineering.
• Joined the United States Air Force where he earned his pilot’s wings, commercial pilot’s license, and went to F4C combat training.
• During the Vietnam war, he flew in 144 combat missions. He then became a T-38 instructor pilot and taught an Undergraduate Pilot Training program.
• He was one of 3 African Americans to be selected for the 8th class of NASA Astronauts and the first Africa American in space.
• In 1983, Guy Bluford flew on STS-8 aboard the Challenger and became the first African American in space, serving as a mission specialist and flight engineer.  Two years later, Bluford flew aboard STS-61A, the 1st dedicated German Spacelab mission where he led training and on-orbit flight operations of 76 experiments. He also served as a mission specialist astronaut on STS-39 and flew the STS-53 mission on December 2, 1992 to perform classified Military-Man-in-Space and NASA experiments.
• Over the course of his astronaut career with four flights in space, Bluford logged over 688 hours in space and 5,200 hours in high performance jet aircraft.