List of black astronauts

This is a list of Black people who have travelled into space or been part of an astronaut/cosmonaut program, sorted by date of first flight.

First African American astronaut candidate

Image	Name Birth date	Comment
	Ed Dwight September 9, 1933	Selected as the first African American astronaut candidate in 1961;resigned from the Air Force in 1966 after government officials created a threatening atmosphere

First person of African descent to travel to space

Image	Name Birth date	Country	Comment	Missions (launch date)
	Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez January 29, 1943	Cuba	First Black person and first Latino to fly in space	Soyuz 38 (September 18, 1980)

African American astronauts

These are the African American astronauts who have traveled into space, sorted by date of first flight.^[1]

#	Image	Name Birth date	Comment	Missions (launch date)
1		Guion Bluford November 22, 1942	First African American astronaut in space	STS-8 (August 30, 1983) STS-61-A (October 30, 1985) STS-39 (April 28, 1991) STS-53 (December 2, 1992)
2		Ronald McNair October 21, 1950 †January 28, 1986	Killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster	STS-41-B (February 3, 1984) STS-51-L (January 28, 1986)
3		Frederick D. Gregory January 7, 1941	First African American to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission; Acting Administrator of NASA, 2005	STS-51-B (April 29, 1985) STS-33 (November 22, 1989) STS-44 (November 24, 1991)
4		Charles F. Bolden, Jr. August 19, 1946	Administrator of NASA, July 17, 2009 – present	STS-61-C (January 12, 1986) STS-31 (April 24, 1990) STS-45 (March 24, 1992) STS-60 (February 3, 1994)
5		Mae Jemison October 17, 1956	First African American woman in space	STS-47 (September 12, 1992)
6		Bernard A. Harris, Jr. June 26, 1956	First African American to walk in space	STS-55 (April 26, 1993) STS-63 (February 3, 1995)
7		Winston E. Scott August 6, 1950	Veteran of three spacewalks	STS-72 (January 11, 1996) STS-87 (November 19, 1997)
8		Robert Curbeam March 5, 1962	Veteran of seven spacewalks	STS-85 (August 7, 1997) STS-98 (February 7, 2001) STS-116 (December 9, 2006)
9		Michael P. Anderson December 25, 1959 †February 1, 2003	Killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster	STS-89 (January 22, 1998) STS-107 (January 16, 2003)
10		Stephanie Wilson September 27, 1966		STS-121 (July 4, 2006) STS-120 (October 23, 2007) STS-131 (April 5, 2010)
11		Joan Higginbotham August 3, 1964		STS-116 (December 9, 2006)
12		B. Alvin Drew November 5, 1962	Veteran of two spacewalks, February 28 and March 2, 2011	STS-118 (August 8, 2007) STS-133 (February 24, 2011)
13		Leland D. Melvin February 15, 1964	Associate Administrator for Education at NASA	STS-122 (February 7, 2008) STS-129 (November 16, 2009)
14		Robert Satcher September 22, 1965	EVA November 19 and November 23, 2009	STS-129 (November 16, 2009)

These African American astronauts have not traveled into space.^[2]

Image	Name Birth date	Comment
	Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. October 2, 1935 †December 8, 1967	First African American astronaut; selected for astronaut training in 1967 for the MOL program; died in an aircraft accident
	Livingston Holder September 29, 1956	USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program
	Michael E. Belt September 9, 1957	Astronaut, payload specialist from TERRA SCOUT - US Army Project; retired January 12, 1991
	Yvonne Cagle April 24, 1959	Astronaut
	Jeanette J. Epps November 2, 1970	Astronaut
	Victor J. Glover April 30, 1976	Astronaut

References