What is Guion Bluford?
{{Infobox astronaut | name = Guion Bluford | birth_name = Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. | type = [[NASA]] [[Astronaut]] | image = Guion Bluford.jpg | nationality = American | status = Retired | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1940|11|22}} | birth_place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], U.S. | occupation = [[Fighter pilot]], [[engineer]] | alma_mater = [[Pennsylvania State University|Penn State]], B.S. 1964<br>[[Air Force Institute of Technology|AFIT]], M.S. 1974, Ph.D. 1978<br>[[University of Houston–Clear Lake|UHCL]], MBA 1987 | rank = [[Colonel]], [[United States Air Force|USAF]] | selection = [[List of astronauts by selection#1978|1978 NASA Group 8]] | time = 28d 16h 33m | mission = [[STS-8]], [[STS-61-A]] , [[STS-39]], [[STS-53]] | insignia = [[File:STS-8 patch.png|40px]] [[File:STS-61-a-patch.png|40px]] [[File:Sts-39-patch.png|40px]] [[File:STS-53 patch.svg|40px]] }} '''Guion Stewart Bluford Jr.''', [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] (born November 22, 1942), ([[Colonel (United States)|Col]], [[United States Air Force|USAF]], Ret.), is an American [[aerospace engineer]], retired [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force officer]] and [[fighter pilot]], and former [[NASA]] [[astronaut]]. Bluford was the first [[African American]] in [[Outer space|space]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=evUP4glYmvEC&dq=bluford+first+space&pg=PA87 | title=Frontiers of Space Exploration | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group | author=Launius, Roger D. | year=2004 | pages=245 | isbn=9780313325243}}</ref> Before becoming an astronaut, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he remained while assigned to NASA, rising to the rank of [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]]. He participated in four [[Space Shuttle]] flights between 1983 and 1992. In 1983, as a member of the crew of the Orbiter [[Space Shuttle Challenger|''Challenger'']] on the mission [[STS-8]]. ==References== {{reflist}} ==Other websites== {{Commons category-inli