- NASA uses the robotic resupply spacecraft to deliver cargo, such as equipment and other supplies, to the International Space Station.
- According to a recent news release, the company said it is their tradition to name each Cygnus spacecraft after an “individual who has played a pivotal role in human spaceflight.”
- “He made the ultimate sacrifice in service to the space program,” it read. “His legacy lives on in his fellow astronauts and all who he has inspired and taught to fly.”
- Northrop Grumman Tactical Space Systems Vice President and General Manager Frank DeMauro said, Onizuka “lost his life in support of the advancement of the human exploration of space.”
- S.S. Ellison Onizuka is set to launch on Aug. 10 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island for a 56-day mission at the ISS, according to NASA.
A trailblazer: Onizuka, who joined NASA’s astronaut program in 1978, completed a total of 74 hours in space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery for STS 51-C, the Department of Defense’s first space shuttle mission.
- According to NASA, Colonel Onizuka served as a flight test engineer and test pilot for the U.S. Air Force before becoming an astronaut.
- Onizuka attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, where he worked with various aircrafts, including the F-84, F-100, F-105, F-111 and A-1.
- Onizuka died during his second space shuttle mission aboard the ill-fated Challenger, which exploded just 73 seconds after lift-off.
- The disaster prompted NASA to suspend all shuttle missions temporarily.
- The Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center at Kona International Airport in Hawaii’s Kona district, where he was born and raised, was dedicated to him.
- The former Onizuka Air Force Station in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Onizuka Village family housing on Hickam Air Force Base were also named in his honor.