More than 60 years after Edward Dwight was chosen to become the first black astronaut, the specter of racism and politics robbed him of his place in space exploration history, leading to a postponement. He just flew into space on Sunday morning.
After landing, at the end of the flight, which lasted 9 minutes and 53 seconds, Dwight stood on the steps outside the crew capsule door, raised his arms in the air and said, “Long time no see.”
Minutes later, standing outside the capsule, he said the flight had been “life-changing.” He admitted that he had said earlier in the day that he didn't need a plane in his life. “But I lied,” he said.
Dwight, 90, was one of six people on board the New Shepard rocket's Blue Origin spaceflight, which lifted off Sunday morning from a commercial launch site near Van Horn, Texas. This flight made him the oldest person to go into space. He surpassed actor William Shatner.
After Dwight, now a sculptor, was selected for the Blue Origin flight, he told the New York Times that ultimately reaching space was not justice, but something that should have happened someday.
“My whole life has been about getting things done,” Dwight said. “This is the culmination.”
The idea of sending Dwight into space gained traction in 1961 amid a White House campaign to diversify the nation's space program. Dwight, a charismatic and handsome pilot, is selected for the astronaut training program. Although he had the backing of President John F. Kennedy and the support of the black press, numerous obstacles prevented him from reaching space.
Chuck Yeager, who ran the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, thought Dwight was an average pilot who had been selected to participate in the program for political reasons. Dwight said racism may have been the reason General Yeager discriminated against him and wanted him removed. General Yeager graduated Mr. Dwight from the program, but he was not selected as an astronaut.
After Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, support for Dwight's role in the space program appeared to wane, and he resigned from the Air Force in 1966.
Mr. Dwight went on to become a successful restaurateur, real estate developer, and well-known artist specializing in carving notable figures of black history.
It wasn't until 1983 that the United States sent a black astronaut, Lt. Col. Guion S. Bruford Jr., into space.
After many years, Dwight finally reached space on Sunday aboard the New Shepard rocket.
This was the seventh crewed flight for Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos. The other passenger was Mason Angell, founder of the venture capital fund Industrious Ventures. Sylvain Chiron, founder of the French craft brewery Brasserie du Mont Blanc. Kenneth L. Hess, software engineer and entrepreneur. Gopi Sotakura, pilot. Carol Schaller is a former certified public accountant who was diagnosed with blindness in 2017 and began traveling frequently to places including the South Pole and Mount Everest Base Camp.
The rocket took off at 9:35 a.m. Central Time and returned to Earth within 10 minutes. The capsules carrying human passengers landed separately shortly after, at 9:45 a.m. Only two of the three parachutes deployed, but this did not cause any serious problems with the landing.
The capsule door opened around 10 a.m. and Dwight stood outside, saying he was “ecstatic.”
“Everyone needs to do this,” Dwight said.