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United States Guion S. Bluford is a pioneering aerospace engineer and retired United States Air Force officer, best known as the first African American to travel to space.
Dr. Guion Bluford began his career with NASA when he was selected as an astronaut in 1978. He became the first African American in space during the STS-8 Challenger mission in 1983. He remained a USAF officer while assigned to NASA, rising to the rank of colonel, and participated in four Space Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992.
Dr. Bluford has been a member of the Board of Directors at ENSCO, Inc. since 2005. ENSCO is a company that provides engineering, science, and advanced technology solutions.
From October 2000 to September 2002, Dr. Guion Bluford served as the Vice President of Microgravity R&D and Operations for the Northrop Grumman Corporation, a leading global aerospace and defense technology company.
After retiring from NASA and the USAF in July 1993, Dr. Bluford took on the role of Vice President/General Manager, Engineering Division of NYMA, an engineering company located in Greenbelt, Maryland.
In May 1997, Dr. Guion Bluford became the Vice President of the Aerospace Sector of Federal Data Corporation, a company involved in information technology and services.
Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. was born on November 22, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He established his academic foundation with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1964. Following his undergraduate studies, Bluford was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he underwent training as a fighter pilot. His decorated military career included flying 144 combat missions during the Vietnam War. He furthered his education by earning a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in 1974, and subsequently, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Laser Physics from AFIT in 1978. In 1987, he also attained a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.
Bluford’s groundbreaking journey into space began when he was selected as a NASA astronaut in January 1978, as part of NASA Astronaut Group 8. This group’s training officially designated them as astronauts in August 1979. His technical assignments at NASA involved work on Space Station operations, the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), Spacelab systems, Space Shuttle systems, payload safety issues, and verifying flight software. He made history on August 30, 1983, when he served as a mission specialist on STS-8 aboard the Orbiter Challenger, becoming the first African American in space. This mission marked the third flight for the Challenger and was notable for its night launch and night landing. During STS-8, the crew deployed the Indian National Satellite (INSAT-1B), tested the Canadian-built robotic arm, and conducted various scientific experiments over 145 hours in Earth orbit.
His distinguished NASA career encompassed four Space Shuttle missions, logging over 688 hours in space. Following STS-8, he participated in STS-61-A in 1985, the German D-1 Spacelab mission, which was the first to carry eight crew members and involved 76 experiments. His third mission, STS-39 in 1991, focused on gathering data for the U.S. Department of Defense and deploying a classified satellite. Bluford’s final spaceflight was STS-53 in 1992, another mission primarily dedicated to Department of Defense experiments, where the crew deployed a classified military communication satellite. He retired from NASA and the USAF in July 1993, transitioning to a post-NASA career that included leadership roles in engineering and aerospace consulting, notably as President of Aerospace Technology.
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