NASA rejects astronaut Jeff Bezos’ sixty-year dream
The goal of an astronaut who was turned down by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to travel to space was realized on Sunday by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.
Ed Dwight, 90, was turned down by NASA sixty years ago from Blue Origin’s launch location in West Texas. He eventually made it to space onboard the New Shepard rocket.
At 9:36 a.m. CT, the capsule lifted off the ground, carrying six passengers—including Dwight—onboard NS-25, Blue Origin’s seventh crewed trip, and sent them into space.
After being recommended for NASA in 1961 by the late US President John F. Kennedy, the retired Air Force captain came dangerously close to being the first Black astronaut in American history.
Despite passing the first round of training at Edwards Air Force Base’s Aerospace Research Pilot School, Dwight was not chosen.
He obtained a master’s degree in fine arts and worked as a sculptor out of his own studio in Denver after leaving the Air Force in 1966.
Dwight remarked, “I thought I didn’t need it in my life,” following the capsule’s 9:46 a.m. CT return to Earth. “However, I lied. It was exactly what I needed. It’s an event that transforms lives. Everyone must take this action.”
During the ten-minute suborbital flight, Dwight and his crewmates saw the breathtaking view of Earth from space and spent approximately three minutes in weightlessness.
He barely beat out former “Star Trek” actor William Shatner by a few months to become the oldest person to fly to space.
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