Blue Origin Sends 90-Year-Old Ed Dwight into Space, Making Him Oldest Space Traveler
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy selected him as the first Black astronaut candidate, However NASA did not choose him for a mission, and he never had the chance to go to space
Ed Dwight, at 90 years and 8 months old, became the oldest person to fly in space. Dwight's journey aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-25 spacecraft marked the culmination of a dream that began over 60 years ago.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy selected Dwight as the first Black astronaut candidate. However, NASA did not choose him for a mission, and he never went to space.
NASA didn’t select any Black astronauts until 1978, and Guion Bluford became the first African American in space in 1983. Three years before that, the Soviets launched the first Black astronaut, Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, a Cuban of African descent.
Dwight’s dream became a reality when Blue Origin and the nonprofit Space for Humanity sponsored his flight. Dwight joined five other passengers for a brief suborbital trip, experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.
The other members of the Blue Origin NS-25 mission crew were Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller and Gopi Thotakura.
Dwight’s flight surpassed the previous age record held by actor William Shatner, who flew with Blue Origin in 2021 at the age of 90 years and 6 months. Reflecting on the opportunity, Dwight said, "I thought I really didn’t need this in my life. But now, I need it in my life…I am ecstatic.”
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Dwight’s selection for this mission highlights his long history with space exploration. He trained as a test pilot in the 1960s and was part of a program at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Despite not being selected for a NASA mission, he retired from the military in 1966 and became a renowned sculptor, creating statues of Civil Rights leaders.
Recalling his readiness for space travel, Dwight said, "I've pulled more G's than any person on Earth. I've been high enough to see the curvature of the Earth. ... I've been doing things like that most of my life."
Space health expert Dorit Donoviel noted that the main concern for such short flights is managing G-forces (Gravitational). These forces can cause blood to drain from the head and pool in other parts of the body, which can be a significant issue during space launches. However, the design of Blue Origin’s seats helps to mitigate these effects.
"As you're experiencing the G-forces, you're getting it through the chest, which is not affecting your head," Donoviel explained.
The successful flight and landing reaffirmed Blue Origin's return to crewed missions after a two-year hiatus following an accident in 2022. The crew capsule, designed to reduce landing impact, came down under parachutes with a last-minute retro thrust to reduce speed, making the landing safe and controlled.
Leland Melvin, a retired NASA astronaut, remarked that it was good to see Dwight finally “get his due” after all these years.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company, Blue Origin, manufactures the New Shepard exclusively for space tourism. It is designed to transport passengers into suborbital space using a crew capsule.
The capsule has six large observation windows, one for each passenger. The reusable rocket first gained attention when it outperformed SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster by becoming the first rocket to achieve a soft landing.
