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Guion Bluford (born November 22, 1942) is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut, who is the first African American and the second person of African descent to go to space. Before becoming an astronaut in 1978 as part of NASA Astronaut Group 8, Bluford was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he remained while assigned to NASA, rising to the rank of colonel. He participated in four Space Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992. In 1983, as a member of the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger on the mission STS-8, he became the first African American in space, as well as the second person of African ancestry in space, after Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez.
This picture of Bluford is his official NASA portrait, taken in 1992, the year of his final mission, STS-53. He is depicted in his Launch Entry Suit and holding the helmet.Photograph credit: NASA; retouched by Coffeeandcrumbs