Ed Dwight, the first Black man to be trained as an astronaut, is about to become the oldest person to travel to space at the age of 90. In 1961, Dwight hoped to become the first Black astronaut in space but never made it.
A Blue Origin flight will finally provide the 90-year-old with the opportunity he was denied decades ago.
On Sunday, Dwight will join five other people on a space voyage by Blue Origin, the space travel firm founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The 11-minute voyage will transport the six participants to the edge of space, allowing them to experience weightlessness and see the Earth’s horizon.
In 1961, then-US President John F. Kennedy chose Ed Dwight to participate in an Air Force training program
In 1961, then-US President John F. Kennedy chose Dwight to participate in an Air Force training program known as the Path to NASA’s Astronaut Corps. Dwight was an exceptional test pilot at the time, but was ultimately not picked.
In 2022, Dwight claimed that when he received the invitation letter in 1961 to become the first Black astronaut, he believed “these dudes were crazy.”
After completing the training in 1963, the Air Force recommended he join the corps. However, he was not chosen. In 1966, he resigned from the military, citing racial tensions.
“So, all these White folks that I’m dealing with, I mean, my peers, the other guys that were astronaut candidates and the leadership was just horrified at the idea of my coming down to Edwards and the president appointing me to the position,” CBS quoted him as saying.
He spent the remainder of his life telling Black history via sculpture. Dwight’s painting, displayed across the country, features iconic individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and others.