Ellison Onizuka

was an American NASA astronaut and engineer. He flew into space with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-C in 1985. He later died in the disaster of Space Shuttle Challenger. He was serving as Mission Specialist for Challenger's STS-51-L. He was the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese ancestry to reach space.

Onizuka was born in Kealakekua, Hawaii. He got two degrees at the University of Colorado at Boulder (B.S. and M.S.) in 1969. He was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He was awarded the rank of colonel after his death. He married Lorna Leiko Yoshida in 1969. The couple had two daughters.

On January 28, 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch. Onizuka and all six others aboard died.

References

Other websites

 Ellison Onizuka NASA biography

Category:1946 births
Category:1986 deaths
Category:Accidental deaths in Florida
Category:American astronauts
Category:American aerospace engineers
Category:Military people from Hawaii
Category:NASA
Category:United States Air Force