Ed Dwight was able to enter space 60 years after being rejected as an astronaut candidate. Image source: Reid Wiseman, via NASA
Ed Dwight has flown into space for the first time after being selected as an astronaut candidate 60 years ago.
Formerly a US Air Force pilot, Dwight, contemporary of Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, was a candidate for NASA’s Astronaut Corps in the early 1960s.
In 1963, despite progressing to Phase II of the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), Dwight was not chosen to proceed as an astronaut.
This was because NASA did not select black astronauts at the time. That would not change until 1978.
Guion Bluford went on to become the first African American astronaut to enter space in 1983.
Bluford was preceded by Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, a Cuban man of African descent who was launched by the Soviet program three years prior. Mendez is officially the first black astronaut.
Dwight left the military in 1966, working as an engineer, in real estate, and for the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). He also opened a barbecue restaurant and started a construction company.
He then went on to become a sculptor, commissioned at one point to create a statue for Colorado’s state capitol building in 1974 by the lieutenant governor, George L. Brown.
Dwight eventually earned a master’s degree in sculpture from the university of Denver in the late 1970s. His sculptures focus on African American history, and several have flown into space.
He was made an honorary Space Force member in 2020.
Now 90, Dwight was aboard a Blue Origin capsule along with five other passengers. Blue Origin is an aerospace company founded and owned by Jeff Bezos.
The capsules ascend toward space at more than three times the speed of sound. They skim the boundary of space for roughly 10 minutes, allowing the passengers to experience weightlessness.
This was Blue Origin’s seventh tourist flight. It was also their first crewed launch in nearly two years.
The ticket prices for the passengers were not disclosed, though Dwight’s ticket was partly sponsored by the non-profit organisation Space for Humanity.
The flight made Dwight the new record-holder for “oldest person in space”, nearly two months older than William Shatner, known for his role as captain James t. Kirk in Star Trek. Shatner also flew on Blue Origin in 2021.
Upon landing and exiting the capsule, Dwight called it a “life-changing experience”.
“I thought I really didn’t need this in my life,” said Dwight.
“But now I need it in my life… I am ecstatic.”
