Astronaut Edward Dwight honored at KCK meeting

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Ed Dwight Jr. was honored the key to the city of Kansas City, Kansas at Thursday evening’s city council meeting.

In addition, Mayor Tyrone Garner declared July 25, 2024 as Ed Dwight Jr. Day.

Dwight said he was extremely pleased to receive the honor, while saying that the city “taught me all the moves that I’ve ever made or that counts.”

He said receiving the two awards was like no other award he’s ever received, because it meant so much coming from his hometown.

“If I brought even this much glory to it, it was worth everything. Everything that I did here in Kansas City and everything I learned here, all the values about my life are wrapped up in this city,” he said.

Dwight attended what was then Kansas City Junior College and went on to join the Air Force. He tested planes for the military, stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, when he was the first black man to be selected as an astronaut candidate.

Endorsed by John F. Kennedy, he would train with the astronauts that flew the Apollo missions to the moon.

“Suddenly I got the world’s all attention coming to me, and I got a support team over here and they’re going crazy!” Dwight remembered.

After Kennedy’s assassination, Dwight would not be selected to join the astronaut program in 1963.

“You know, the world assumed that I was one angry, pissed off guy that I didn’t get a chance to go to space,” Dwight said. “It didn’t bother me. I knew what my role was. I was there because we needed black scientists and engineers in this country too. You know, to open the conversation. And that was my role.”

Sixty-one years after getting snubbed from the program, Dwight would eventually make the trip to space with Blue Origin, becoming the oldest man to ever go to space.

“When that rocket lit, well, I thought to myself, you’ve lived a good life,” Dwight joked about taking off in the rocket. “But once it got going, it was just like magic. You know, all of a sudden, this thing flying straight up in the air and I’m sitting there seeing the earth disappear.”

Dwight has now turned his attention to sculptures, where he has completed dozens of commissioned pieces around the world, focusing on historical black figures. He’s also the author of an autobiography, describing the struggles of being the first black astronaut.

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