Image credit: NASA; retouched by Cofeeandcrumbs [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Born in 1942 in Philadelphia, PA
Received a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State in 1964
Earned his pilot wings at Williams Air Force Base in 1966, and after serving a number of roles with the U.S. Air Force, entered the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology residency school in 1972.
Earned a Master of Aerospace Engineering & Doctor of Philosophy U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, furthering his career within the Air Force
Chosen to become a NASA astronaut in 1978, Bluford was driven to make a contribution to the program.
As an astronaut. Bluford worked with space station operations, Remote Manipulator System, Spacelab systems and experiments, space shuttle systems, payload safety issues and verifying flight software.
He was chosen join the Space Shuttle Challenger's STS-8 mission, and became the first African American in space on August 20, 1983.
Following his historic flight, Guy Bluford flew on three more missions, logging a total of 688 hours in space in his career.
