Social, Cultural and Educational Legacies - ER - NASA

Guion Bluford, PhDColonel, US Air Force (retired).Astronaut on STS-8 (1983),STS-61A (1985),STS-39 (1991), andSTS-53 (1992).In 1983, Colonel Guion Bluford became the first African American to fly in space.He earned a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from PennsylvaniaState University, followed by flight school and military service as a jet pilotin Vietnam, which included missions over North Vietnam. He went on to earna Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in aerospace engineering with aminor in laser physics from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He also earneda Master of Business Administration after joining NASA. Prior to joining NASAas a US Air Force astronaut, he completed research with several publications.Since leaving NASA, he has held many leadership positions.As a NASA astronaut, he flew on four missions: two on Challenger (1983, 1985)and two on Discovery (1991, 1992).Dr. Bluford has said, “I was very proud to have served in the astronaut programand to have participated on four very successful Space Shuttle flights. I alsofelt very privileged to have been a role model for many youngsters, includingAfrican American kids, who aspired to be scientists, engineers, and astronautsin this country. For me, being a NASA astronaut was a great experience thatI will always cherish.”of 1973, Harris proclaimed NASA’sequal employment opportunityprogram “a near-total failure.”Among other things, the agency’srecord on recruiting and hiringwomen and minorities was inadequate.In October, NASA AdministratorJames Fletcher fired Harris andCongress held hearings to investigatethe agency’s affirmative actionprograms. Legislators concluded thatNASA had a pattern of discriminatingAstronaut Guion Bluford conducting research on STS-53.against women and minorities.Eventually, a resolution was reached,with Fletcher reinstating Harris asNASA’s deputy assistant administratorfor community and human relations.From 1974 through 1992, Dr. HarriettJenkins, the new chief of affirmativeaction at NASA, began the process ofslowly diversifying NASA’s workforceand increasing the number of femaleand minority candidates.Though few in number, women andminorities made important contributionsto the Space Shuttle Program asNASA struggled with issues of raceand sex. Dottie Lee, one of the fewwomen engineers at Johnson SpaceCenter and the subsystem manager foraerothermodynamics, encouragedengineers to use a French curve designfor the spacecraft’s nose, which is nowaffectionately called “Dottie’s nose.”NASA named Isaac Gillam as head ofShuttle Operations at the Dryden FlightResearch Center, where he coordinatedthe Approach and Landing Tests.In 1978, he became the first AfricanAmerican to lead a NASA center.JoAnn Morgan of Kennedy SpaceCenter served as the deputy projectmanager over the Space ShuttleLaunch Processing Systems CentralData Subsystems used for Columbia’sfirst launch in 1981.Astronaut CorpsForced to diversify its workforce in the1970s, NASA encouraged women andminorities to apply for the first classof Space Shuttle astronauts in 1976.When NASA announced the names inJanuary 1978, the list included sixwomen, three African Americans, andone Japanese American, all of whomheld advanced degrees. Two of thewomen were medical doctors, anotherheld a PhD in engineering, and theothers held PhDs in the sciences.Two of the three African Americanshad earned doctorates, while the third,Frederick Gregory, held a master’sdegree. The only Asian member of theirclass, Ellison Onizuka, had completeda master’s degree in aerospaceengineering. This was the most diversegroup of astronauts NASA had everselected and it illustrated the sea changebrought about within the AstronautCorps by 1978. From then on, all462Social, Cultural, and Educational Legacies