“Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine”

•Ellison Onizuka was born in Hawaii in 1946 to Japanese American parents. He grew up in Hawaii with his three siblings and eventually left for the University of Colorado Boulder to receive his Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1969. He stayed to complete his Masters there as well before entering active duty with the U.S Air Force in 1970 as a test flight engineer in Sacramento. He was selected for NASA’s astronaut program in 1978. His first space mission was in 1985 on Space Shuttle Discovery, which was the DoD’s first space shuttle mission. He spent 74 hours in space during his mission. In doing this, he became the first Asian American and first person of Japanese ancestry to reach space.  He then was assigned as the mission specialist for the Space Shuttle Challenger which was destroyed by  an explosion of the liquid hydrogen tank after launch. Following his death in the event, he was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor for his contributions to both the Air Force and NASA’s space program. Also, the Ellison Onizuka Space Center at the Kona International Airport in Hawaii was dedicated to him.