In the Bluford series an interesting question arose. In Lost and Found, Tarah asked who the school was named after, Darcy explained that it was named after an African American Astronaut named Guion Bluford.
To elaborate, Bluford was the first African American in space. He was a pilot on the Space Shuttle Challenger, on the 1983 mission STS-8, a mission to deploy the INSAT-1B satellite for India. He was born in Philadelphia on November 22,1942 and graduated from Overbrook High.
To elaborate, Bluford was the first African American in space. He was a pilot on the Space Shuttle Challenger, on the 1983 mission STS-8, a mission to deploy the INSAT-1B satellite for India. He was born in Philadelphia on November 22,1942 and graduated from Overbrook High.
He later received a bachelor of Science from Pennsylvania State, A Master of Science and a PH.d. from from the Air Force, all in Aerospace engineering.
Bluford trained in the Air Force and received his pilot wings there he flew 144 combat missions and several papers on computational fluid dynamics.
Today, Bluford is retired from his chosen profession at the age of 66. And is a life long member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and was inducted in the International Space Hall of Fame in 1997.
