Ellison Onizuka
Sign in to saveAlso known as Ellison Shoji Onizuka, Ellison S. Onizuka
American astronaut from Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, first Asian American to reach space, later died in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident
Key facts
- Born
- Ellison Shoji Onizuka , ( 1946-06-24 ) June 24, 1946, Kealakekua , Hawaii Territory , U.S.
- Died
- January 28, 1986 (1986-01-28) (aged 39), North Atlantic Ocean
- Cause of death
- Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
- Education
- University of Colorado, Boulder ( BS , MS )
- Awards
- Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- Rank
- Colonel , USAF
- Time in space
- 3d 1h 33m
- Selection
- NASA Group 8 (1978)
- Missions
- STS-51-C , STS-51-L
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Part of
- NASA Astronaut Group 8
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Kailua-Kona
- Place of death
- Cape Canaveral
- Occupation
- engineer
- Employer
- NASA
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Religion
- Buddhism
- Military branch
- United States Air Force
- Military rank
- lieutenant colonel
- Image
- Ellison Shoji Onizuka (NASA).jpg
- Significant event
- Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Show 9 more facts
- member of the crew of
- STS-51-L
- Commons category
- Ellison Onizuka
- date of birth
- 1946-06-24
- date of death
- 1986-01-28
- P450
- STS-51-L
- manner of death
- accidental death
- time in space
- 4413
- place of burial
- National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
- cause of death
- Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Sources (8)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Ellison Shoji Onizuka (Japanese: エリソン・ショージ・オニヅカ, 鬼塚 承次, Hepburn: Onizuka Shōji; June 24, 1946 – January 28, 1986) was an American astronaut, engineer, and U.S. Air Force flight test engineer from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger, on which he was serving as Mission Specialist for mission STS-51-L. Onizuka was the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese ancestry to reach space.
Early life
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ellison Onizuka” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.