90-Year-Old First Black Astronaut Candidate Returns from Space Journey with Blue Origin

A former pilot who was denied the opportunity to become America’s first black astronaut 60 years ago has safely returned after traveling beyond Earth on a private company’s spacecraft.

Blue Origin is an American space exploration company founded by Amazon.com, Inc. founder Jeff Bezos. On the 19th, the company announced that six passengers had returned to Earth after completing a space flight on the New Shepard spacecraft.

According to Blue Origin, the crew exceeded the altitude of the boundary between Earth and space, 100km, reaching up to 65.7 miles above ground.

Among the spacecraft’s passengers was Ed Dwight, the oldest participant at 90. He underwent astronaut training in the 1960s but was not included in the final list of astronauts due to racial discrimination.

After landing, Dwight described the experience as “life-changing,” adding, “Everybody needs to do this.”

Blue Origin resumed its space flight operations nearly two years after a rocket explosion in September 2022. The company identified the cause of the accident as a leak in the nozzle delivering gas to the rocket engine.