Ed Dwight could have been the only black astronaut in the 1960s – but politics got in the way. In 2024, at the age of 90, he finally got his chance to go into orbit.
Humanity has entered a new age of space tourism. For a minimum of $450,000 (£360,000), people with deep pockets can claim the title “astronaut” after a short sub-orbital flight to the edge of space and back and up to 10 minutes experiencing weightlessness above the Earth.
On these near-spaceflights, currently offered by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, there is usually one member of the crew whose name and story captures the headlines – and often a free ride.
In 2021, on Blue Origin’s first passenger flight, it was 82-year-old aviator and former Mercury 13 member Wally Funk. A few months later, it was actor and former Star Trek captain William Shatner. In May, on Blue Origin’s seventh short-duration flight from Earth to the edge of space and back, it was Ed Dwight.
Dwight is an acclaimed sculptor whose work can be seen in galleries and as public monuments across the United States. Like Shatner, he was also 90, but it was not just his age or sculptures that merited the attention. It was also his background as America’s first black astronaut candidate.