Guion Bluford Jr.- One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap Colored Kind

Throughout our time, humans have wondered about what lies above our home, what those twinkling lights at night are. No one would ever suspect that those lights were actually giant balls of gas floating in space. Some people believed the universe centered around the Earth, until Galileo proved that theory wrong. Eventually, we sent people into space to get a close up view of the world above. However, among those people, there were no black people in space. That is, until 1979.

The first African American astronaut was Guion, or "Guy" as he was called, Bluford, Jr. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 22, 1942. As Guion grew up and went to school, he eventually a Bachelor's Science degree from Pennsylvania State University. He also received a PhD in aerospace engineering along with a minor in laser physics from the Air Force Institute in 1978. However, that is jumping ahead. Before entering his career as an astronaut, he took pilot training at Williams Air Force Base. In January, 1966, he received his "pilot wings." He continued even further in his training by taking combat crew training in Arizona and Florida. As you might've guessed, the steps to becoming an astronaut require hard work, a good mind, and patience, as does anything else in life.

Guion was assigned to the 557th Fighter Squad in Vietnam, where he flew 144 combat missions. In July, 1967, he was put into the 3630th Flying Training Wing in Shepard Air Force Base in Texas. He served as an instructor pilot, training others. He became an evaluation officer and an assistant flight commander as well. He received a lot of training flying jets before he could fly in a shuttle. In 1972, he attended yet another school, Air Force Base Institute of Technology, where he got his minor in laser physics. He eventually also received a Master of Science degree. After graduating, he was assigned to a laboratory of Air Force Flight Dynamics. He wrote several papers on aerodynamics and has spent over 5200 hours in a jet and over 1300 hour as a flight instructor. He also has a commercial license from the FAA(Federal Aviation Administration). At around only 33 years old Guy(short for Guion) was a busy man with a busy life that would only get busier.

Finally, in August, 1979, Guy became an official NASA astronaut. His first assignment was STS-8, whose shuttle launched from Kennedy Space Center in 1983. The mission involved deploying the Indian National Satellite and performing experiments on space travel's affects on the human body. He went on other missions, four of which he was ranked mission specialist. Other experiments involved liquid physics in space, life science, and gathering information on aurora, a natural phenomenon in the North Pole called the Northern Lights. Recently, not too long ago, in 1992 he served on the crew of STS-53. They performed many Military Man-In-Space experiments on the Space Shuttle Discovery. In 1993 he left NASA. He was eventually inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in the year 1997. In October, 200 he became the Vice President of Microspace Research and Development. In 2002 he retired to become the President of The Aerospace Technology Group in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2006 he became recognized as a distinguished student of Pen. State University. He was selected as the Grand Marshal for his Alma Mater's homecoming celebration.

I was inspired to write about Guion Bluford Jr. because he was astronaut and I am fascinated by space and astronomy. I also believe becoming the first African American astronaut was a great feat. He must have wanted to be an astronaut very badly to put all that hard work and effort into his work. It payed off though. I hope to put as much effort into my studies as he did and one day be successful in life like he did as well.

Guionj S. Bluford Jr. is still alive today. In 1986 he brought back the "Challenger" flag to the Eagle Scouts' Boy Scout Troop 514. On December 18 he presented the flag in a special ceremony in Falcon Air Force Base. He is now retired. He is probably about 66 years old today. His hard work payed off, as he was able to go to space, make new discoveries, and become the first African American to journey into the great world unknown above us - outer space.