List of African-American astronauts facts for kids

The first three African Americans to travel into space – Ron McNair, Guy Bluford and Fred Gregory

African-American astronauts are Americans of African descent who have either traveled into space or been part of an astronaut program.

African-American astronauts

Traveled into space

#	Images	Names & Birth dates	Notes	Missions & launch dates	Sources
1		Guion Bluford November 22, 1942	First African-American astronaut in space	STS-8 (August 30, 1983) STS-61-A (October 30, 1985) STS-39 (April 28, 1991) STS-53 (December 2, 1992)
2		Ronald McNair October 21, 1950 †January 28, 1986	First Baháʼí in space; died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster	STS-41-B (February 3, 1984) STS-51-L (January 28, 1986)
3		Frederick D. Gregory January 7, 1941	First African American to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission; acting Administrator of NASA, 2005	STS-51-B (April 29, 1985) STS-33 (November 22, 1989) STS-44 (November 24, 1991)
4		Charles Bolden August 19, 1946	Administrator of NASA, July 17, 2009 – January 20, 2017	STS-61-C (January 12, 1986) STS-31 (April 24, 1990) STS-45 (March 24, 1992) STS-60 (February 3, 1994)
5		Mae Jemison October 17, 1956	First African-American woman in space	STS-47 (September 12, 1992)
6		Bernard A. Harris Jr. June 26, 1956	First African American to walk in space	STS-55 (April 26, 1993) STS-63 (February 3, 1995)
7		Winston E. Scott August 6, 1950	Veteran of three spacewalks	STS-72 (January 11, 1996) STS-87 (November 19, 1997)
8		Robert Curbeam March 5, 1962	Veteran of seven spacewalks	STS-85 (August 7, 1997) STS-98 (February 7, 2001) STS-116 (December 9, 2006)
9		Michael P. Anderson December 25, 1959 †February 1, 2003	Died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster	STS-89 (January 22, 1998) STS-107 (January 16, 2003)
10		Stephanie Wilson September 27, 1966		STS-121 (July 4, 2006) STS-120 (October 23, 2007) STS-131 (April 5, 2010)
11		Joan Higginbotham August 3, 1964		STS-116 (December 9, 2006)
12		Alvin Drew November 5, 1962	Veteran of two spacewalks, February 28 and March 2, 2011	STS-118 (August 8, 2007) STS-133 (February 24, 2011)
13		Leland D. Melvin February 15, 1964	Associate Administrator for Education at NASA	STS-122 (February 7, 2008) STS-129 (November 16, 2009)
14		Robert Satcher September 22, 1965	EVA November 19 and November 23, 2009	STS-129 (November 16, 2009)
15		Victor J. Glover April 30, 1976	Joined ISS Expedition 64 as first African-American on an ISS Expedition	SpaceX Crew-1 (November 15, 2020)
16		Sian Proctor March 28, 1970	First African American female Spacecraft Pilot, as part of Inspiration4. First African American commercial Astronaut.	Inspiration4 (September 16, 2021)
17		Michael Strahan November 21, 1971	First African American space tourist	Blue Origin NS-19 (December 11, 2021)
18		Jessica Watkins May 14, 1988	First African American woman to be an ISS expedition crew member	SpaceX Crew-4 (April 27, 2022)
19		Jaison Robinson September 25, 1980		Blue Origin NS-21 (June 4, 2022)
20		Jeanette J. Epps November 2, 1970	On August 4, 2023, NASA announced that Epps would join SpaceX Crew-8 that launched to space on March 4, 2024.	SpaceX Crew-8 (March 4, 2024)

Never traveled into space

Image	Name Birth date	Note	Sources
	Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. October 2, 1935 †December 8, 1967	First African-American astronaut; selected for astronaut training in 1967 for the MOL program; died in an aircraft accident
	Livingston L. Holder Jr. September 29, 1956	USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program
	Michael E. Belt September 9, 1957	Astronaut, payload specialist from TERRA SCOUT – US Army Project; retired January 12, 1991. Although he did not fly any shuttle missions during his time as an astronaut, he was the back-up payload specialist to Thomas J. Hennen for the STS-44 mission which deployed a military satellite, undergoing 9 months of astronaut training for the role He was selected as an astronaut through the US Army's Terra Scout program which was created specifically to support STS-44.
	Yvonne Cagle April 24, 1959	In NASA management

See also

• Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, first person of African descent and first Afro-Latino to fly in space.