Ed Dwight

Edward Joseph Dwight Jr. (born September 9, 1933) is an American sculptor, author, retired test pilot, and astronaut. Dwight enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1953 and was commissioned a lieutenant in 1955. In 1961, at the direction of President John F. Kennedy, he became the first African American to enter the Air Force training program from which NASA selected astronauts. Although he completed training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School in 1963 and advanced to the second round of the program, in the end he was not selected for the Astronaut Corps. Dwight finally traveled into space on the Blue Origin NS-25 mission in 2024, becoming the oldest person to ever participate in a spaceflight, a record previously held by William Shatner. In 2020, he became an honorary member of the U.S. Space Force during a ceremony at the Pentagon. An accomplished sculptor, Dwight has completed a number of public monuments, including the Texas African American History Memorial on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol, and the African American History Monument on the grounds of the South Carolina State House.