List of black astronauts
List of black people who have travelled into space or been part of an astronaut/cosmonaut program, sorted by date of first flight.
Non-US Citizen
| # | Image | Name Birth date |
Country | Comment | Missions (Launch date) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez January 29, 1943 |
 Cuba |
First black person to fly in space. First Latin American to fly in space. | Soyuz 38 (September 18, 1980) |
African-Americans
US Citizens Travelled into space
African-American astronauts who have travelled into space, sorted by date of first flight.
| # | Image | Name Birth date |
Comment | Missions (Launch date) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Guion Bluford November 22, 1942  |
First African-American astronaut in space | STS-8 (August 30, 1983) STS-61-A (October 30, 1985) STS-39 (April 28, 1991) STS-53 (December 2, 1992) |
| 2 |  |
Ronald McNair October 21, 1950 †January 28, 1986 |
Killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster | STS-41-B (February 3, 1984) STS-51-L (January 28, 1986) |
| 3 |  |
Frederick D. Gregory January 7, 1941 |
First African-American to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission Acting Administrator of NASA, 2005 |
STS-51-B (April 29, 1985) STS-33 (November 22, 1989) STS-44 (November 24, 1991) |
| 4 |  |
Charles F. Bolden, Jr. August 19, 1946 |
Administrator of NASA, July 17, 2009 – present | STS-61-C (January 12, 1986) STS-31 (April 24, 1990) STS-45 (March 24, 1992) STS-60 (February 3, 1994) |
| 5 |  |
Mae Jemison October 17, 1956 |
First African-American woman in space | STS-47 (September 12, 1992) |
| 6 |  |
Bernard A. Harris, Jr. June 26, 1956 |
First African-American to walk in space | STS-55 (April 26, 1993) STS-63 (February 3, 1995) |
| 7 |  |
Winston E. Scott August 6, 1950 |
Veteran of 3 spacewalks | STS-72 (January 11, 1996) STS-87 (November 19, 1997) |
| 8 |  |
Robert Curbeam March 5, 1962 |
Veteran of 7 spacewalks | STS-85 (August 7, 1997) STS-98 (February 7, 2001) STS-116 (December 9, 2006) |
| 9 |  |
Michael P. Anderson December 25, 1959 †February 1, 2003 |
Killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster | STS-89 (January 22, 1998) STS-107 (January 16, 2003) |
| 10 |  |
Stephanie Wilson September 27, 1966 |
STS-121 (July 4, 2006) STS-120 (October 23, 2007) STS-131 (April 5, 2010) | |
| 11 |  |
Joan Higginbotham August 3, 1964 |
STS-116 (December 9, 2006) | |
| 12 |  |
B. Alvin Drew November 5, 1962 |
EVA Feb. 28, 2011 | STS-118 (August 8, 2007) STS-133 (February 24, 2011) |
| 13 |  |
Leland D. Melvin February 15, 1964 |
Associate Administrator for Education at NASA | STS-122 (February 7, 2008) STS-129 (November 16, 2009) |
| 14 |  |
Robert Satcher September 22, 1965 |
EVA November 19 and November 23, 2009 | STS-129 (November 16, 2009) |
Not travelled into space
African-American astronauts who have not travelled into space.
| Image | Name Birth date |
Comment |
|---|---|---|
 |
Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. October 2, 1935 †December 8, 1967 |
First African-American selected for astronaut training (1967) for the MOL program. Died in an aircraft accident. |
 |
Livingston Holder September 29, 1956 |
USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program |
| Michael E. Belt September 9, 1957 |
Astronaut, Payload specialist from TERRA SCOUT - US Army Project ; retired January 12, 1991 | |
 |
Yvonne Cagle April 24, 1959 |
Astronaut |
 |
Jeanette J. Epps November 2, 1970 |
Astronaut |
 |
Victor J. Glover April 30, 1976 |
Astronaut candidate 2013 |
Footnotes
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