Ex-air force captain Ed Dwight, passed over by Nasa in 1961, now oldest person to reach edge of space with Jeff Bezo’s space firm
Sixty-one years since he was selected but ultimately passed over to become the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight finally reached space in a Blue Origin rocket – and set a different record.
At 10.37am on Sunday, Jeff Bezos’s space company launched its NS-25 mission from west Texas, marking Blue Origin’s first crewed spaceflight since 2022 when its New Shepard rocket was grounded due to a mid-flight failure.
On board were six crew members, including Dwight, a retired US air force captain who at 90 years old now becomes the oldest person to reach the edge of space.
In 1961, Dwight was chosen by President John F Kennedy to train as an astronaut at the Aerospace Research Pilot School, but was ultimately not selected for the Nasa Astronaut Corps.
This is awesome! I can only imagine how exciting that must’ve been for Cpt. Dwight. Well deserved.
Old people have the right to explore the cosmos too!
If Space Cowboys taught us anything….
Almost first black astronaut reaches almost space!
also, the article is a great read! Sounds like an awesome guy with a cool story
I’m happy for the dude regardless. He clearly had a terrific time.
