Ed Dwight has become America's first Black astronaut and the oldest to fly into the space. At 90, he finally fulfilled his dream of space travel, lifting off with Jeff Bezos' rocket company on Sunday. Six decades after his initial selection by President John F. Kennedy for NASA's early astronaut corps, Dwight, now 90 years old, experienced moments of weightlessness aboard the Blue Origin capsule during its roughly 10-minute flight into space.
Dwight, a 90-year-old sculptor from Denver, expressed his gratitude, stating, "I thought I really didn’t need this in my life, but now, I need it in my life... I am ecstatic." His journey sets a new record as the oldest person in space, surpassing the previous record held by "Star Trek" actor William Shatner in 2021.
The flight marked Blue Origin's first crew launch in nearly two years, following a hiatus after a 2022 accident in which the booster came crashing down but the capsule full of experiments safely parachuted to the ground. Flights were resumed last December, but with no one aboard. This was Blue Origin’s seventh time flying space tourists. Dwight was joined by four business entrepreneurs from the U.S. and France, and a retired accountant. Notably, Dwight's seat was partially sponsored by the nonprofit Space for Humanity.
Dwight's journey to space comes decades after his initial recommendation by the Air Force to NASA in 1963. Despite not being selected for the early astronaut class, which included famed astronauts like Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, Dwight's perseverance and dedication to space exploration have finally led to this historic moment.
After leaving the military in 1966, Dwight joined IBM and started a construction company. Later, he pursued a career in sculpture, eventually earning a master's degree in the field. He has since dedicated himself to art, creating sculptures that celebrate Black history and adorn memorials and monuments across the country. Several of his sculptures have even traveled into space, making his journey to the stars a fitting culmination of a lifetime dedicated to exploration and inspiration.
