Guion Bluford

CTL-E-6220 · Person · aviator · Born 1942; NASA flights 1983–1992

PROVISIONAL evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07415 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6220.

Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. is an American aerospace engineer, retired Air Force officer and former NASA astronaut, born November 22, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Overbrook Senior High School in 1960 and earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1964, followed by master's and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1974 and 1978 and an MBA in 1987. As an F-4C fighter pilot he flew 144 combat missions in Southeast Asia, then served as an instructor pilot and in the Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory. Selected for NASA's astronaut program in 1978, he launched on August 30, 1983, as a mission specialist on STS-8 aboard Challenger, becoming the first African American to fly in space. He flew three more shuttle missions — STS-61-A in 1985, STS-39 in 1991 and STS-53 in 1992 — logging over 688 hours in space. He retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1993 for aerospace-industry leadership roles, and was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1997 and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2010.

The record

• Also known as: Guion Stewart Bluford Jr., Guy Bluford, Guion S. Bluford Jr.

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 13; sixth Scan Tail packet at the founder’s 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (script + hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Guion Bluford entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6220 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — scan string #2405 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json), banked in the Scan Tail Wave 5 reserve (Appendix E), re-screened CLEAR against the live graph at 3,910 entities by this wave. The supply supplied the name only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: First African American in space; in scope for CTL's technology/science and people registers, with no direct Chicago base. Vital status: LIVING (provisional) — born November 22, 1942, Philadelphia (HistoryMakers). No death is reported in either opened source, and the HistoryMakers biography describes his post-1993 industry career in the present tense, but its underlying interview is dated May 9, 2013, and no dated 2025-2026 source confirming current status was opened in this session — that is the named gap capping this record at Provisional. STATISTICS — Four shuttle flights: STS-8 (1983), STS-61-A (1985), STS-39 (1991), STS-53 (1992) (both sources); over 688 hours in space (both sources); 144 combat missions (HistoryMakers). No conflict between the opened sources on flight count or hours. PROVISIONAL — Living status not confirmed by a dated 2025-2026 opened source; a current dated profile or appearance record is needed to raise this record to Verified under CTL-GOV-006. MEDIA: photo HELD (NASA's STS-8-era photograph of Guion Bluford (NASA page imagery includes an STS-8 inflight crew photo); HELD — no license is claimed and a file-level PHOTO-001 record is required before any use.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6220-guion-bluford.svg); video HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short found in the Shorts Link Map (2026-10-15, 233 Shorts searched by name and variants); near-miss: none titled for Bluford.); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record’s sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short found in the Shorts Link Map (2026-10-15, 233 Shorts searched by name and variant) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Relationships

• NASA — affiliated with
  Bluford was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1978 and flew four shuttle missions as a NASA mission specialist (NASA). Graph endpoint NASA, Organization, CTL-E-3654.

Sources

• NASA, Former Astronaut Guion Bluford (accessed 2026-10-16) — selected as part of NASA's eighth astronaut class in 1978; became NASA's first African-American astronaut to go to space with the launch of STS-8 on August 30, 1983; veteran of four space flights as mission specialist on STS-8, STS 61-A, STS-39 and STS-53; logged over 688 hours in space with completion of his fourth flight — https://www.nasa.gov/?p=261391 (primary source · build store)
• The HistoryMakers, Guion Bluford's Biography (accessed 2026-10-16) — born November 22, 1942, in Philadelphia; Overbrook Senior High School 1960; Penn State B.S. in aerospace engineering 1964; Air Force Institute of Technology M.S. 1974 and Ph.D. 1978; MBA, University of Houston at Clear Lake, 1987; flew 144 combat missions in Southeast Asia as an F-4C pilot; T-38 instructor pilot 1967-1972; selected for the astronaut program in 1978; first African American to fly in space in 1983 and to return a second, third and fourth time (1985, 1991, 1992); retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1993; inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1997 and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2010; interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 9, 2013 — https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/guion-bluford (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6220 · Combined Graph record U-07415 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 2 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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