The first African-American astronaut candidate has finally gone into space, after more than 60 years of waiting

Last Sunday (May 19) is a date to be marked in the history of space exploration. Ed Dwight, the first African-American astronaut candidate, made a suborbital flight in a Blue Origin capsule, after more than 60 years of waiting. Submitting his application in 1961, he was unfortunately never selected for NASA missions. Now, at the age of 90, he has also become the oldest person to have been in space, surpassing William Shatner by about a month.

Born in 1933 in Kansas City, Dwight joined the US Air Force in 1953 for pilot training, before serving as a fighter pilot. In 1957, he earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from Arizona State University. He then expanded his area of ​​expertise by training as a pilot in space exploration, and subsequently serving in that capacity within the US Air Force.

In 1961, he became the first African-American astronaut candidate, when President John F. Kennedy selected him to enter the elite flight training program of the US Air Force. This program is known to be the last time to join NASA’s astronaut corps.

Unfortunately, despite being recommended by the US Air Force, he was never accepted into NASA’s astronaut training program. ” It was the first real job I was involved in and I failed “, explained u video Blue Origin Rebroadcast. An African-American was not selected for the space program until 1967, but sadly died before he could fly into space. It was not until 16 years later that NASA astronaut Guion Bluford reached this milestone during the STS-8 mission of the Challenger rocket, in August 1983. Let us remind you that Bluford is indeed the first African-American to be in space, but Ed Dwight is indeed the first African-American candidate.

For his part, Dwight left the military in 1966 to pursue a varied career. He first worked for IBM, then developed a chain of restaurants and started a real estate business. He also became a bronze sculptor depicting African-American historical figures. His works have been exhibited in several museums throughout the United States and Canada.

Decades passed before he finally realized his dream by being selected for Blue Origin’s NS-25 suborbital flight last Sunday. Her video was sponsored by the non-profit organization Space for Humanity, as well as the Jaison and Jamie Robinson Foundation. ” I thought I didn’t need it in my life, but I lied: I really do. “, he said shortly after landing. ” Absolutely fantastic! It was a life-changing experience! Everyone should do this “, he exclaimed.

At 90, he is now the oldest person to travel into space, ahead of actor William Shatner (who played Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series). The latter was also 90 years old when he went into space (also with Blue Origin) in October 2021.

The other 5 crew members were Mason Angel, a venture capitalist, French craft beer magnate Sylvain Chiron, entrepreneur Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, a retired accountant, and pilot and aviator Gopi Thotakura. The latter financed their own flight. Although Blue Origin did not disclose ticket prices, they are likely to be around $450,000, similar to those of its competitor, Virgin Galactica.

Experience weightlessness for approximately 11 minutes

To take Dwight and the rest of the crew into space, Blue Orgin used its New Shepard capsule rocket, which is fully autonomous (requires no pilot) and reusable. It can rise above the Kármán line (a boundary located approximately 100 kilometers above sea level and defined by the International Astronautical Federation as the beginning of space), and is built for tourist flights and cargo transport.

The recent flight of NS-25 (New Shepard’s 25th mission) took off at 16:37 (French time) from the launch center in Texas to reach a maximum altitude of 105 kilometers. 6 passengers experienced several minutes of weightlessness and had a view of the Earth from space. The rocket-capsule landed at 16:47 with only two open parachutes out of three. According to Blue Origin, it can land safely even with just one parachute.

This is the seventh manned flight of the New Shepard capsule. The first flight took place on July 20, 2021 with 4 people on board, including Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin. In total, the company sent 37 people into space, where they experienced weightlessness for about 11 minutes. Before NS-25, another unmanned research flight took place in September 2022. The capsule rocket also suffered a failure due to a structural failure of the first stage engine, after which it was immobilized for 15 months.

Video transmission of flight NS-25: