List of African-American astronauts

Some of NASA's first African-American astronauts including Dr. Ronald McNair, Guy Bluford and Fred Gregory from the class of 1978 selection of astronauts.

African-American astronauts are astronauts who are African-American.

African-American astronauts

Traveled into space

#	Image	Name Birth date	Note	Missions (launch date)	Sources
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)	[1]
2		Ronald McNair October 21, 1950 †January 28, 1986	Died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster	STS-41-B (February 3, 1984) STS-51-L (January 28, 1986)	[1]
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)	[1]
4		Charles Bolden August 19, 1946	Administrator of NASA, July 17, 2009 – January 20, 2017	STS-61-C (January 12, 1986) STS-31 (April 24, 1990) STS-45 (March 24, 1992) STS-60 (February 3, 1994)	[1]
5		Mae Jemison October 17, 1956	First African-American woman in space	STS-47 (September 12, 1992)	[1]
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)	[1]
7		Winston E. Scott August 6, 1950	Veteran of three spacewalks	STS-72 (January 11, 1996) STS-87 (November 19, 1997)	[1]
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)	[1]
9		Michael P. Anderson December 25, 1959 †February 1, 2003	Died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster	STS-89 (January 22, 1998) STS-107 (January 16, 2003)	[1]
10		Stephanie Wilson September 27, 1966		STS-121 (July 4, 2006) STS-120 (October 23, 2007) STS-131 (April 5, 2010)	[1]
11		Joan Higginbotham August 3, 1964		STS-116 (December 9, 2006)	[1]
12		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)	[1]
13		Leland D. Melvin February 15, 1964	Associate Administrator for Education at NASA	STS-122 (February 7, 2008) STS-129 (November 16, 2009)	[1]
14		Robert Satcher September 22, 1965	EVA November 19 and November 23, 2009	STS-129 (November 16, 2009)	[1]

Never traveled into space

Image	Name Birth date	Note	Sources
	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 L. Holder, Jr. 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 On January 5, 2016 NASA announced that Epps would become the first African-American space station crew member when she launched on her would-be first spaceflight in May 2018, as a flight engineer on Expedition 56, remaining on board for Expedition 57. On January 16, 2018, NASA announced that Epps had been replaced by her backup Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, due to unknown reasons, and has sparked various media attention.
	Victor J. Glover April 30, 1976	Astronaut
	Jessica Watkins May 14, 1988	Astronaut candidate, NASA Astronaut Group 22	[2]

First African-American astronaut candidate

Image	Name Birth date	Note	Sources
	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

See also

• Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, first person of African descent and first Afro-Latino to fly in space

References