Guion Bluford: First African-American in space

An astronaut wearing a blue jumpsuit smiles at the camera.

Guion "Guy" Bluford is a former NASA astronaut who was the first African-American to fly into space. He flew four space shuttle missions.

Bluford's class of 1978 astronauts included two other African-Americans: Ron McNair (who later died on the space shuttle Challenger in 1986) and Fred Gregory (who after flying in space, went on to become a NASA deputy administrator.)