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You are a knowledgeable assistant with access to a given context. Always provide responses that are relevant to the context provided.


user
Context: Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. (born November 22, 1942) is an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air Force (USAF) officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut, in which capacity he became the first African American to go to space. While assigned to NASA, he remained a USAF officer rising to the rank of colonel. He participated in four Space Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992. In 1983, as a member of the crew of the Orbiter Challenger on the mission STS-8, he became the first African American in space as well as the second person of African descent in space, after Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez.


Question: Who was the first African American to go to space?


assistant
Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. was the first African American to go to space.  He was an American aerospace engineer, retired United States Air force officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut.  He participated in for Space Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992.