First black astronaut finally reaches space after 63 years of waiting

At the age of ninety, Ed Dwight became the oldest person in space to fly with Blue Origin. This was reported by UNN with reference to the WSJ.

Details

Ed Dwight, the first black man to study to become an astronaut a decade ago, has never actually been in space.

A candidate for astronaut in the early 1960s, he became a celebrity among African Americans, appearing on the covers of Jet and Ebony magazines as a pioneering pilot. But the National Aeronautics and Space Administration never selected him. He gave up on his dream and later became a renowned sculptor who focused on black history.

Finally, after 63 years of waiting, Dwight and five other passengers joined a Blue Origin tourist space flight. Thus, he became the oldest person to ever travel in space.

I am ecstatic. I really didn't think I needed it in my life, but now I need it in my life 

For reference

The Blue Origin sightseeing flight, which took off on Sunday morning from a private ranch in West Texas, was the seventh in total for Bezos' American company. The first after the program was suspended for two years due to an accident involving an unmanned aircraft that caught fire in September 2022.

Along with Dwight, there were five other space tourists in the capsule on Sunday: financier Mason Angel, French brewery founder Sylvain Chiron, computer engineer and entrepreneur Kenneth Hess, retired accountant Carol Schaller, and airplane pilot Gopi Thotakura.

Recall

Three Chinese astronauts have returned to Earth after completing a six-month mission aboard China's Tiangong space station.

Crew-8 astronauts depart for the ISS after several postponementsMar 4 2024, 07:56 AM • 26100 views