Ed Dwight, America’s first black astronaut candidate, who was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, will finally have the opportunity to fly into space at the age of 90. Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s space venture company, announced that Dwight will be among the six-person crew aboard the upcoming New Shepard flight beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Despite being chosen by Kennedy, Dwight was not granted the chance to fly to space during his younger years.
Born in Kansas in 1933, Dwight was asked by President Kennedy to join Chuck Yeager’s test pilot program at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert in 1961. Despite meeting the qualifications, including hours of flying jet airplanes, a science or engineering degree, and outstanding ratings from superiors, Dwight was not selected to join the Astronaut Corps. He faced racism in the program, with Yeager telling him privately how good the white guys were and suggesting that he should not be part of the program.
It wasn’t until 1983 that the first African American astronaut, Guion Bluford, reached space. Following his time in the Air Force, Dwight spent a decade as an entrepreneur before dedicating his life’s work to using sculpture to tell the story of black history. He has created over 130 large-scale monuments of iconic black figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman. Joining Dwight on the upcoming journey to space are venture capitalist Mason Angel, French brewer Sylvain Chiron, software engineer Kenneth L. Hess, adventurist Carol Schaller, and pilot Gopi Thotakura.
Each crewmember will carry a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, which provides students with access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets. The cost of the 11-minute zero-gravity experience has not been disclosed, but the first seat on a previous flight went for $28 million. Dwight, however, is flying for free thanks to sponsorships from Space for Humanity and the Jaison and Jamie Robinson Foundation. This upcoming flight will mark the seventh human flight for the New Shepard program and the 25th in its history, continuing the company’s efforts to expand space exploration opportunities.
The announcement of Dwight’s inclusion in the upcoming flight comes over 18 months after a setback for the New Shepard program, when a rocket suffered a thermo-structural failure on an uncrewed flight. The rocket crashed back to Earth moments after launch, but Blue Origin has continued to work on improving the program and ensuring the safety of its passengers. The exact date for the upcoming flight has not yet been revealed, but it represents a significant milestone for Dwight and his journey to finally experience space travel at the age of 90.
