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On a Blue Origin rocket, Ed Dwight, 90, realizes his dream of space flight

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Michel Martin. Sixty-one years ago, Ed Dwight nearly made history as America's first Black astronaut. He was in the top half of his class in test pilot school but didn't make the final cut to astronaut. But at 90 years old, Dwight finally realized his dream of space flight, and made it into the history books. Along with five others, he made the trip on a Blue Origin rocket - Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos' company - and that made him the oldest person to go into space, beating out Star Trek actor William Shatner by a few months. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.