Ellison Onizuka: 第一位进入太空的亚裔美国人

Ellison Onizuka是第一位在太空飞行的亚裔美国人。他是1978年NASA宇航员班的一员，也被称为“35个新人”，是近十年来第一个宇航员班，也是第一个包括女性、西班牙裔、亚裔和非裔美国人的班级。

在成为宇航员之前，Onizuka上校在美国空军有着杰出的职业生涯，他在那里担任飞行测试工程师和试飞员。在位于麦克莱伦空军基地的萨克拉门托航空后勤中心，他为包括F-84、F-100、F-105、F-111和a -1在内的多种飞机进行了试飞项目和系统安全工程方面的工作。Onizuka还参加了美国空军试飞员学校。在学校期间，他登记的飞行时数超过1,700小时。在加入美国宇航局并完成宇航员训练后，Onizuka的第一次太空任务是在1985年搭乘发现号航天飞机执行STS-51-C任务。

1986年1月28日，挑战者号航天飞机在发射73秒后爆炸，Onizuka失去了生命。

Ellison Onizuka was the first Asian American to fly in space. He was a member of NASA’s Astronaut Class of 1978, also known as the Thirty-Five New Guys, the first astronaut class in nearly a decade and also the first to include women, Hispanics and Asian and African Americans.

Before becoming an astronaut, Colonel Onizuka had a distinguished career with the United States Air Force, where he served as a flight test engineer and as a test pilot. At the Sacramento Air Logistics Center at McClellan Air Force Base, he worked in test flight programs and systems security engineering for a variety of aircraft, including the F-84, F-100, F-105, F-111 and A-1. Onizuka also attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. While at the school, he registered more than 1,700 flight hours. After joining NASA and completing astronaut training, Onizuka’s first space mission was aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-51-C in 1985.

On January 28, 1986, Onizuka lost his life when Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch.

Image Credit: NASA