Onizuka, Ellison Shoji, << ahn uh zoo kah, EHL uh suhn SHOH jee >> (1946-1986), in 1985 became the first Asian American in space. He was also one of the seven United States astronauts killed in the 1986 Challenger disaster.
On his first space flight in January 1985, Onizuka and his fellow astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery completed a secret three-day mission for the Department of Defense. As part of his second mission, Onizuka and the other astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger planned to release two satellites, a retrievable satellite to study Halley’s Comet and a communications satellite. On Jan. 28, 1986, an accident destroyed the shuttle shortly after liftoff. Structural failures caused the shuttle to break apart. The accident killed Onizuka and the six other crew members (see Challenger disaster).
Onizuka was born June 24, 1946, in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii. His family had moved to Hawaii when his grandparents left Japan to work on sugar plantations. In 1964, he enrolled at the University of Colorado, where he joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. He received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1969. In 1970, he went on active duty with the Air Force. NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1978 for the first team of space shuttle crew members.
