In this image from
Sept. 5, 1983, Guion “Guy” Bluford checks out the sample pump on the continuous
flow electrophoresis system (CFES) experiment in the middeck of the
Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger.
Forty years ago today, he launched from
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, becoming the first African American to
fly in space. Bluford was a member of NASA's "Thirty-Five New Guys" – the 1978 astronaut class, which had the
first African American, the first Asian American, and the first women
astronauts.
During the STS-8 mission, the crew
deployed the Indian National Satellite INSAT-1B, operated the Canadian-built
Remote Manipulator System with the Payload Flight Test Article, operated the
CFES, conducted medical measurements to understand biophysiological effects of
spaceflight, and activated four “Getaway Special” canisters. STS-8 completed 98 orbits
of the Earth in 145 hours before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California,
on Sept. 5, 1983.
Image Credit: NASA
Source: Guy Bluford, the First African American in Space | NASA
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