Born Nov. 22, 1942, in Philadelphia, Guion “Guy” Bluford went on to major in aerospace engineering at Penn State. In addition to training as a fighter pilot in the Air Force, Bluford also earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the Air Force Institute of Technology. In 1978, he was selected to be a space shuttle astronaut in Astronaut Group 8 — one of just 35 people chosen from 10,000 applicants.
Bluford launched as a mission specialist on Challenger for STS-8 on Aug. 30, 1983, becoming the first African American in space. Three additional space shuttle missions would follow, bringing Bluford’s total time in space up to 688 hours – including NASA’s first night launch and night landing of the space shuttle and the largest crew in space (eight people on one spaceflight). In 1993, he retired from the military and NASA; today he continues to work in the private sector of the aerospace industry.
