# List of African-American astronauts

African-American astronauts are Americans of African descent who have been part of an astronaut program, regardless of whether they have traveled into space. African-Americans who have been passengers on space-tourist flights are also included in this article, although there is dispute over whether such passengers become "astronauts."

## African-American astronauts
### Traveled into space

| # | Name & birth date | Notes | Missions & launch dates |
| 1 | Guion Bluford November 22, 1942 | First African-American astronaut in space | STS-8 (August 30, 1983) STS-61-A (October 30, 1985) STS-39 (April 28, 1991) STS-53 (December 2, 1992) |
| 2 | Ronald McNair October 21, 1950 †January 28, 1986 | First Baháʼí in space; died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster | STS-41-B (February 3, 1984) STS-51-L (January 28, 1986) |
| 3 | Frederick D. Gregory January 7, 1941 | First African American to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission; acting Administrator of NASA, 2005 | STS-51-B (April 29, 1985) STS-33 (November 22, 1989) STS-44 (November 24, 1991) |
| 4 | Charles Bolden August 19, 1946 | Administrator of NASA, July 17, 2009 – January 20, 2017 | STS-61-C (January 12, 1986) STS-31 (April 24, 1990) STS-45 (March 24, 1992) STS-60 (February 3, 1994) |
| 5 | Mae Jemison October 17, 1956 | First African-American woman in space | STS-47 (September 12, 1992) |
| 6 | Bernard A. Harris Jr. June 26, 1956 | First African American to walk in space | STS-55 (April 26, 1993) STS-63 (February 3, 1995) |
| 7 | Winston E. Scott August 6, 1950 | Veteran of three spacewalks | STS-72 (January 11, 1996) STS-87 (November 19, 1997) |
| 8 | Robert Curbeam March 5, 1962 | Veteran of seven spacewalks | STS-85 (August 7, 1997) STS-98 (February 7, 2001) STS-116 (December 9, 2006) |
| 9 | Michael P. Anderson December 25, 1959 †February 1, 2003 | Died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster | STS-89 (January 22, 1998) STS-107 (January 16, 2003) |
| 10 | Stephanie Wilson September 27, 1966 | | STS-121 (July 4, 2006) STS-120 (October 23, 2007) STS-131 (April 5, 2010) |
| 11 | Joan Higginbotham August 3, 1964 | | STS-116 (December 9, 2006) |
| 12 | Alvin Drew November 5, 1962 | Veteran of two spacewalks, February 28 and March 2, 2011 | STS-118 (August 8, 2007) STS-133 (February 24, 2011) |
| 13 | Leland D. Melvin February 15, 1964 | Associate Administrator for Education at NASA | STS-122 (February 7, 2008) STS-129 (November 16, 2009) |
| 14 | Robert Satcher September 22, 1965 | EVA November 19 and November 23, 2009 | STS-129 (November 16, 2009) |
| 15 | Victor J. Glover April 30, 1976 | Joined ISS Expedition 64 as first African-American on an ISS Expedition | SpaceX Crew-1 (November 15, 2020) |
| 16 | Sian Proctor March 28, 1970 | First African American female Spacecraft Pilot, as part of Inspiration4. First African American commercial Astronaut. | Inspiration4 (September 16, 2021) |
| 17 | Michael Strahan November 21, 1971 | First African American space tourist | Blue Origin NS-19 (December 11, 2021) |
| 18 | Jessica Watkins May 14, 1988 | First African American woman to be an ISS expedition crew member | SpaceX Crew-4 (April 27, 2022) |
| 19 | Jaison Robinson September 25, 1980 | | Blue Origin NS-21 (June 4, 2022) |
| 20 | Jeanette J. Epps November 2, 1970 | On August 4, 2023, NASA announced that Epps would join SpaceX Crew-8 that launched to space on March 4, 2024. | SpaceX Crew-8 (March 4, 2024) |
| 21 | Ed Dwight September 9, 1933 | Considered as the first African-American astronaut candidate, Ed Dwight made it to the second round of an Air Force program from which NASA selected astronauts, but was not selected by NASA to be an astronaut. Resigned from the Air Force in 1966 due to racial politics. In May, 2024, Dwight flew on a Blue Origin space tourist launch that traveled more than 100 km above Earth's surface, becoming at age 90 the oldest person to have flown to space. | Blue Origin NS-25 (May 19, 2024) |

### Never traveled into space

| Name & birth date | Notes |
| Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. October 2, 1935 †December 8, 1967 | First African-American astronaut; selected for astronaut training in 1967 for the MOL program; died in an aircraft accident |
| Livingston L. Holder Jr. September 29, 1956 | USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program |
| Michael E. Belt September 9, 1957 | Astronaut, payload specialist from TERRA SCOUT – US Army Project; retired January 12, 1991. Although he did not fly any shuttle missions during his time as an astronaut, he was the back-up payload specialist to Thomas J. Hennen for the STS-44 mission which deployed a military satellite, undergoing 9 months of astronaut training for the role He was selected as an astronaut through the US Army's Terra Scout program which was created specifically to support STS-44. |
| Yvonne Cagle April 24, 1959 | In NASA management |