PSU Alum, First African American Astronaut Next Forum Speaker

February 26, 2003
University Park, Pa. – Guion S. Bluford, Jr., vice president and general manager, Northrop Grumman, will deliver the Penn State Forum lecture at noon on Friday, March 21, at the Penn Stater. The topic of his presentation is "America's Aerospace Industry."

In addition to serving as a vice president at Northrop Grumman, Buford is program manager of the NASA Glenn Research Center, Microgravity Research, Development and Operations Contract (MRDOC), where he is responsible for the design, development, integration, and operational support of the NASA Fluids and Combustion Facility and associated space flight experiment hardware for the International Space Station.

Bluford was a NASA mission specialist and payload commander astronaut on four Space Shuttle missions. He was elected in the first class of space shuttle astronauts in 1978, and was the first African American to fly in space in 1983 aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. In addition, he flew on a Spacelab flight as payload commander in 1985, a Department of Defense Strategic Defense Initiative Office flight in 1991, and a classified Department of Defense flight in 1992.

He has received numerous commendations, including three meritorious service medals from the Department of Defense; legion of merit, meritorious service, commendation and 10 air medals from the Air Force; distinguished service, exceptional service and four space flight medals from NASA; and Pennsylvania's distinguished service medal. In 1997, he was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame.

Bluford received a B.S. in aerospace engineering from Penn State in 1964, M.S and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1974, and a M.B.A. from the University of Houston in 1987.

            The Penn State Forum is a lunchtime speaker series offered by the Faculty Staff Club and is sponsored in part by the Penn State Bookstore. It is open to the public. Tickets are $10 for members and $12 for non-members and include lunch. Reservations can be made by mail or by stopping by the Faculty Staff Club office at 103 HUB-Robeson Center. Tickets will be on sale at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the speech and a question-and-answer session at noon. For more information call (814) 865-7590.

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Contact: Amy Neil, Department of Public Information, at (814) 865-7517 or e-mail aen4@psu.edu