More than 60 years after he was selected as the first black astronaut, but his place in the history of space exploration eclipsed and delayed by the specter of racism and politics, Edward Dwight launched into space Sunday morning .
After landing, at the end of a flight that lasted 9 minutes and 53 seconds, Mr. Dwight stood on the steps outside the crew door, raised his arms and said, “Long time no see.”
Minutes later, standing outside the capsule, he said the flight was “life-changing.” He admitted that earlier in the day he had been saying that he didn’t need to fly in his life. “But I lied,” he said.
Mr. Dwight, 90, was one of six passengers aboard the Blue Origin space vehicle. new shepard The rocket launched Sunday morning from a private launch site near Van Horn, Texas. This flight made him the oldest person ever to fly in space.he Beyond actor William Shatner.
After Mr Dwight, now a sculptor, was selected for the Blue Origin flight, he told the New York Times Ending up in space isn’t justice, it’s something that was supposed to happen at some point.
“My whole life has been about getting things done,” Mr. Dwight said. “This is the climax.”
The idea of sending Mr. Dwight into space gained traction in 1961 amid a White House campaign to diversify the nation’s space program. Mr. Dwight is a charismatic and handsome pilot who is subsequently selected for the astronaut training program. He had the support of President John F. Kennedy and was championed by the black press, but many obstacles prevented him from reaching space.
Chuck Yeager, director of the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, believes Mr. Dwight was a rank-and-file pilot who was chosen to be part of the program for political reasons.Mr. Dwight once said Racism may be the reason General Yeager discriminated against him and wanted him removed. General Yeager had Mr. Dwight graduate from the program, but he was not selected as an astronaut.
After Mr. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, support for Mr. Dwight’s role in the space program appeared to fade, and he left the Air Force in 1966.
Mr. Dwight went on to become a successful restaurateur, real estate developer and noted artist whose specialty was sculpting prominent black historical figures.
until 1983 think america A black astronaut will be sent To Space, Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford Jr.
After all these years, Mr. Dwight finally headed into space on a spaceship on Sunday. new shepard Rocket.
This is the seventh manned flight for Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos. Other passengers included Mason Angell, founder of venture capital fund Industrial Ventures, Sylvain Chiron, founder of French craft brewery Brasserie du Mont-Blanc, software engineer and entrepreneur Kenneth L. Hess, pilot Go Totakula, and Carol Schaller, a retired CPA who was told she would go blind in 2017 and began traveling, including to Antarctica and Everest Base Camp.
The rocket took off at 9:35 a.m. Central Time and returned to Earth within 10 minutes. The capsules carrying passengers landed separately shortly after, and at 9:45 a.m. only two of its three parachutes opened, but this did not cause any serious problems for the landing.
Around 10 a.m., the capsule door opened. Mr Dwight stood outside and said he was “ecstatic”.
“Everyone needs to do this,” Mr Dwight said.
