{"id":2248322,"date":"2024-05-20T02:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T06:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-60-years-the-countrys-first-black-astronaut-candidate-gets-to-travel-to-space\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T02:46:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T06:46:29","slug":"after-60-years-the-countrys-first-black-astronaut-candidate-gets-to-travel-to-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-60-years-the-countrys-first-black-astronaut-candidate-gets-to-travel-to-space\/","title":{"rendered":"After six decades, the nation&#8217;s inaugural black astronaut candidate ventures into space"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fafter-60-years-the-countrys-first-black-astronaut-candidate-gets-to-travel-to-space%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2248322&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_78\">\n<p>Ed Dwight was named a candidate for NASA\u2019s astronaut corps by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. On Sunday, he finally made it to space.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dwight, 90, traveled to space aboard a capsule with Blue Origin, the aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos. The flight departed from West Texas and lasted about ten minutes, according to the\u00a0<em>Associated Press.\u00a0<\/em>He was one of six passengers to make the journey on Sunday.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div>\n<p data-video_id=\"RPHsZIKmwdQ\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Astronaut Ed Dwight returning from space\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RPHsZIKmwdQ?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI thought I really\u00a0didn\u2019t need this in my life,\u201d\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ed-dwight-blue-origin-jeff-bezos-9fb11af587996ba6833f2b19e9aee68f\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dwight said after the flight.\u201d\u00a0<\/a>But, now, I need it in my life \u2026. I am ecstatic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He became the new record-holder for the oldest person ever to travel to space, multiple outlets reported. Dwight is about two months older than actor William Shatner, who previously set the record in 2021 during his space flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dwight enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1953 and eventually\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=ttgDAAAAMBAJ&#038;pg=PA54#v=onepage&#038;q&#038;f=false\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">earned the rank of captain<\/a>\u00a0after several years of service. After not being selected as an astronaut, he stayed in the Air Force until 1966. He later worked as an engineer, real estate, and business owner before ultimately becoming a renowned sculptor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until 1978 that the first black astronaut was accepted into NASA. Five years later, in 1983, Guion Bluford became the first black astronaut to travel to space aboard the Space Shuttle\u00a0<em>Challenger<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, Dwight was named an honorary member\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com\/article\/news\/community\/voices-of-change\/ed-dwight-first-black-astronaut\/73-ebebf9f3-d98f-4850-b392-1e3f1feedc39\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">of the Space Force<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Blue Origin flight into space marks a comeback of sorts for Bezos\u2019 company. It was the first flight into space with a crew in almost two years. Previously, Blue Origin grounded all its flights\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/video\/aerospace-technology-plane-crashes-william-shatner-national-national-a7b778f3018546209d2a48fd8cf3c1ca\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">after an accident in 2022<\/a>\u00a0in which engine trouble caused an unmanned capsule to come apart in the sky in mid-flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin\u2019s commercial flight into space on Sunday was the company\u2019s seventh journey with passengers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ed Dwight, named a NASA astronaut candidate by President Kennedy in 1963, fulfilled his space dream at 90. Aboard a Blue Origin capsule, Dwight, supported by Jeff Bezos&#8217; company, briefly soared into space from West Texas, marking a monumental ten-minute journey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2248323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-20-at-2.33.47%E2%80%AFAM-1024x679.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2248322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Screenshot-2024-05-20-at-2.33.47%E2%80%AFAM-1024x679.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2248323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}