Guion Bluford

He was the first African American astronaut to fly into space

Guion Bluford applied to become a NASA astronaut in 1977, but he didn’t hold out much hope. After all, it was the first time in ten years that applications had been sought, and he was acutely aware that 8,079 people had applied – with just 35 places on offer.

Yet Bluford was always in with a very good chance. As an officer and fighter pilot in the US Air Force, he’d received his pilot wings in January 1965. He’d gone on to fly 144 combat missions with an F-4 squadron in Vietnam before teaching cross-country and acrobatic flying and gaining a master’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1974.