Bidspirit auction | Astronaut Guion Bluford signed commemorative

Astronaut Guion Bluford signed commemorative FDC PM Kennedy Space Center May 21 1981. First African-American to go to space. Missions STS-8 STS-61-A STS-39 STS-53. Bluford was selected to become a NASA astronaut in January 1978 as a part of NASA astronaut group 8. He was one of several astronauts recruited by Nichelle Nichols as part of a NASA effort to increase the number of minority and female astronauts. They trained for a year and were officially designated as astronauts in August 1979. His technical assignments have included working with Space Station operations, the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), Spacelab systems and experiments, Space Shuttle systems, payload safety issues and verifying flight software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) and in the Flight Systems Laboratory (FSL). Bluford was a mission specialist on STS-8, STS-61-A, STS-39, and STS-53.