Ellison Onizuka

Astronaut

• Pronunciation: SHOH-jee oh-nee-ZEW-kuh
• Born: June 24, 1946
• Birthplace: Kealakekua, Hawaii
• Died: January 28, 1986
• Place of death: Cape Canaveral, Florida

US Air Force officer, aerospace engineer, and astronaut Ellison Onizuka became the first American of Asian descent to go into space when he took part in the third mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985. He was killed along with his six crewmates when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart shortly after launch on January 28, 1986.

Areas of achievement: Science and technology

Early Life

Ellison Shoji Onizuka was born on June 24, 1946, in Kealakekua, Hawaii, the third of four children and the first son born to Mitsue and Masamitsu Onizuka. His grandparents had emigrated from Japan in the late nineteenth century to work on the sugar and coffee plantations of Hawaii. As a child, Onizuka was interested in how things worked and could often be found taking apart household objects to study them and figure out their inner mechanisms. He decided to become an engineer at a young age, but it was not until high school that he decided to specialize in aerospace engineering. Onizuka excelled academically while also working in the coffee fields and at the family store. He graduated from Konawaena High School in 1964 and enrolled in the University of Colorado in Denver.

While at the university, Onizuka joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program and was a member of Triangle Fraternity, an organization made up of science, engineering, and architecture students. He earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in June of 1969. On June 7, 1969, he married Lorna Leiko Yoshida at the Tri-State Buddhist Temple in Denver, Colorado; they would later have two children, Janelle and Darien. He completed his master’s degree only six months later and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force.

Life’s Work

Onizuka was initially stationed at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, California, where his duties focused on research and design for flight test programs and aircraft safety systems. During this assignment, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. After four years at McClellan, Onizuka applied for and was accepted into the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert, where he trained to be a flight test engineer. He eventually became a course instructor and was responsible for managing modifications to aircraft used by the school.

In the 1970s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began to develop serious plans for a new space program based on a fleet of space shuttles—spacecraft that could be launched into orbit, landed safely back on Earth, and reused in later missions. Initially, NASA hoped to use the space shuttles to transport crew and supplies to and from the space station Skylab, but this plan was thwarted when the station reentered the atmosphere and was destroyed earlier than expected. The shuttle program, however, continued to develop, requiring NASA to begin recruiting astronauts. Of more than eight thousand applicants, just over two hundred were invited to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, for extensive interviews and physical examinations. In January 1978, NASA selected thirty-five men and women, including Onizuka, to enter its training program.

Onizuka’s family moved to Houston so that he could begin working at the Johnson Space Center. He finished his one-year training and evaluation period in August of 1979 and was deemed qualified to become an astronaut. While waiting to receive his first assignment, Onizuka worked on support crews for the first two flights of the Space Shuttle Columbia, the first operational space shuttle.

He was selected to accompany James F. Buchli, Thomas K. Mattingly, Gary E. Payton, and Loren J. Shriver on the first military shuttle mission, a classified mission under the direction of the Department of Defense. Due to weather and other complications, the mission was delayed several times. Onizuka was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel prior to the mission. On January 24, 1985, the Discovery was launched and began its four-day mission, and Onizuka became the first Asian American and Hawaiian-born American to travel into space. The mission was a success, though due to its military nature, its purpose and results remained classified. Upon his return, Onizuka began a series of appearances and speaking engagements, frequently visiting schools to speak to students.

In 1985, Onizuka was selected to undertake a mission on the shuttle Challenger alongside Gregory B. Jarvis, Ronald E. McNair, Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, and teacher Christa McAuliffe. The crew was to deploy a communications satellite into orbit, perform various experiments, and record educational videos that would be shown in schools throughout the United States as part of the Teacher in Space program. Onizuka was to serve as a mission specialist responsible for recording images of Halley’s Comet for study. The shuttle launched from John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 28, 1986. The mission was not completed, however; seventy-three seconds after Challenger’s launch at 11:38 a.m., the shuttle broke apart in flight, killing the crew.

Onizuka’s remains were recovered and were interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 2, 1986. A memorial paying tribute to Onizuka and his fellow crew members was constructed at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in 1986, and he was posthumously promoted to the rank of colonel the following year.

Significance

In recognition of his achievements as an astronaut, Onizuka was posthumously honored with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004. A number of streets, buildings, and astronomical bodies have been named in his honor, including Onizuka Street in Los Angeles, California; the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii; and the asteroid 3355 Onizuka. He was memorialized in fiction in the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, several episodes of which featured a shuttle named for him. The Ellison Onizuka Memorial Scholarship, awarded by the Hawaii Community Foundation, provides financial assistance to Hawaiian students seeking to major in aerospace engineering.

Bibliography

McDonald, Allan J., and James R. Hansen. Truth, Lies, and O-Rings: Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2009. Print. Explores the causes of the Challenger disaster, particularly the faulty O-rings on the rocket booster, and details its aftermath and the investigations into the accident.

Ogawa, Dennis M., and Glen Grant. Ellison S. Onizuka: A Remembrance. Honolulu: Mutual, 1986. Print. Provides a biography of Onizuka, accompanied by personal accounts and remembrances from those who knew him.

Thompson, Rod. “The Legacy Lives: Thousands of Schoolkids Recognize Onizuka’s Contributions Today.” Honolulu Star Bulletin. StarBulletin.com, 2006. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. Explores Onizuka’s enduring legacy in Hawaii and the science education programs established in his honor.

Vachon, Duane A. “A Modern Nisei Hero: Ellison Onizuka (1946–1986).” Hawaii Reporter. Hawaii Reporter, 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. Outlines Onizuka’s early life, focusing particularly on his heritage and spiritual beliefs, and discusses his career and the Challenger disaster.