List of African-American astronauts
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African-American astronauts are Americans of African descent who have been part of an astronaut program, regardless of whether they have traveled into space. African-Americans who have been passengers on space-tourist flights are also included in this article, although there is disagreement over whether such passengers should be referred to as "astronauts."[1]
African-American astronauts
Traveled into space
| # | Image | Name & birth date |
Notes | Missions & launch dates | Template:Refh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | File:Guion Bluford.jpg | Guion Bluford November 22, 1942 |
First African-American astronaut in space | [2] | |
| 2 | File:Ronald mcnair.jpg | Ronald McNair October 21, 1950 †January 28, 1986 |
First Baháʼí in space; died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster | [2] | |
| 3 | File:Gregory-f.jpg | Frederick D. Gregory January 7, 1941 |
First African American to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission; acting Administrator of NASA, 2005 | [2] | |
| 4 | File:CharlesBolden.jpg | Charles Bolden August 19, 1946 |
Administrator of NASA, July 17, 2009 – January 20, 2017 | [2] | |
| 5 | File:Mae Carol Jemison.jpg | Mae Jemison October 17, 1956 |
First African-American woman in space |
|
[2] |
| 6 | File:Bernard Anthony Harris Jr.jpg | Bernard A. Harris Jr. June 26, 1956 |
First African American to walk in space | [2] | |
| 7 | File:Winston scott.jpg | Winston E. Scott August 6, 1950 |
Veteran of three spacewalks | [2] | |
| 8 | File:Robert Curbeam.jpg | Robert Curbeam March 5, 1962 |
Veteran of seven spacewalks | [2] | |
| 9 | File:Michael P. Anderson.jpg | Michael P. Anderson December 25, 1959 †February 1, 2003 |
Died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster | [2] | |
| 10 | File:Stephanie D. Wilson.jpg | Stephanie Wilson September 27, 1966 |
[2] | ||
| 11 | File:Joan Higginbotham.jpg | Joan Higginbotham August 3, 1964 |
|
[2] | |
| 12 | File:Alvin drew-2007.jpg | Alvin Drew November 5, 1962 |
Veteran of two spacewalks, February 28 and March 2, 2011 | [2] | |
| 13 | File:Leland melvin.jpg | Leland D. Melvin February 15, 1964 |
Associate Administrator for Education at NASA | [2] | |
| 14 | File:Robert Satcher.jpg | Robert Satcher September 22, 1965 |
EVA November 19 and November 23, 2009 |
|
[2] |
| 15 | File:Victor J. Glover official portrait.jpg | Victor J. Glover April 30, 1976 |
Joined ISS Expedition 64 as first African-American on an ISS Expedition |
|
[3][4] |
| 16 | File:Dr. Sian Proctor at Launch Complex 39A.jpg | Sian Proctor March 28, 1970 |
First African American female Spacecraft Pilot, as part of Inspiration4. First African American commercial Astronaut. |
|
|
| 17 | File:Michael Strahan 2022 (cropped).jpg | Michael Strahan November 21, 1971 |
First African American space tourist |
|
|
| 18 | File:Jessica Watkins official portrait.jpg | Jessica Watkins May 14, 1988 |
First African American woman to be an ISS expedition crew member |
|
|
| 19 | Jaison Robinson September 25, 1980 |
|
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| 20 | File:Jeanette J. Epps.jpg | Jeanette J. Epps November 2, 1970 |
On August 4, 2023, NASA announced that Epps would join SpaceX Crew-8 that launched to space on March 4, 2024.[5] |
|
[6] |
| 21 | File:Captain Edward J. Dwight Jr. in US Air Force.jpg | Ed Dwight September 9, 1933 |
Considered as the first African-American astronaut candidate, Ed Dwight made it to the second round of an Air Force program from which NASA selected astronauts, but was not selected by NASA to be an astronaut. Resigned from the Air Force in 1966 due to racial politics. In May, 2024, Dwight flew on a Blue Origin space tourist launch that traveled more than 100 km above Earth's surface, becoming at age 90 the oldest person to have flown to space. |
|
[7][8] |
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Never traveled into space
| Image | Name & birth date | Notes | Template:Refh |
|---|---|---|---|
| File:Robertlawrence.jpg | Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. October 2, 1935 †December 8, 1967 |
First African-American astronaut; selected for astronaut training in 1967 for the MOL program; died in an aircraft accident | [9] |
| File:Livingston Holder Astronaut Training.jpg | Livingston L. Holder Jr. September 29, 1956 |
USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program | [10] |
| Michael E. Belt September 9, 1957 |
Astronaut, payload specialist from TERRA SCOUT – US Army Project; retired January 12, 1991. Although he did not fly any shuttle missions during his time as an astronaut, he was the back-up payload specialist to Thomas J. Hennen for the STS-44 mission which deployed a military satellite, undergoing 9 months of astronaut training for the role[11] He was selected as an astronaut through the US Army's Terra Scout program which was created specifically to support STS-44.[12] | [6] | |
| File:Yvonne Cagle.jpg | Yvonne Cagle April 24, 1959 |
In NASA management | [6] |
See also
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- Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, first person of African descent and first Afro-Latino to fly in space. A Cuban, he flew on a Soviet mission in 1980.
References
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- ↑ We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program, Chapter 5, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 2015, pp. 86-104
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