Speaker 1: We have a very special guest here we're going to
Speaker 1: introduce to this audience, and I'm really privilege and honoured
Speaker 1: to be able to give this gentleman and read a
Speaker 1: little bit of his bio and share with him in
Speaker 1: the audience his time as an astronaut. Who we're talking about.
Speaker 1: We're talking about Ed Dwight. Who's Ed Dwight. He enlisted.
Speaker 1: Captain Ed Dwight enlisted in the US Air Force in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three and was commissioned a lieutenant in nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty five. In nineteen sixty one, at the direction of
Speaker 1: President John F. Kennedy, he became the first African American
Speaker 1: to enter the Air Force training program, from which NASA
Speaker 1: selected astronauts. Although we completed training at the Aerospace Research
Speaker 1: Pilot School in nineteen sixty three and advanced to the
Speaker 1: second round of the program, end he was not selected
Speaker 1: for the Astronaut Corps. Dwight finally traveled into space on
Speaker 1: Blue Origins NS twenty five mission in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: becoming the oldest person to ever participate in the spaceflight,
Speaker 1: a record previously held by William Shatner, and in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty rightfully he became an honorary member of the US
Speaker 1: Space Worts during a ceremony at the Pentagon with that
Speaker 1: Captain Eddwight. It's a priviletly noted to have you on
Speaker 1: this radio show, which we call The Doctor's Guy Experience.
Speaker 1: Hope you're with us, and thank you, my friend, for
Speaker 1: your passion, for the service that you gave the American
Speaker 1: people and your space flight. How are you.
Speaker 2: Well. I'm faring. Uh, I'm having a few health issues
Speaker 2: right now. But but thank you for all the kind words. Uh.
Speaker 2: And and even reaching back to even you know, consider
Speaker 2: talking to uh, you know, talking to me, and and
Speaker 2: and all of the all the things that it seems
Speaker 2: so long ago that you know that all that all
Speaker 2: this stuff took place. But uh, obviously I keep up
Speaker 2: with the States program, and I keep up with all
Speaker 2: the all the all the current astronauts, and then they
Speaker 2: come to the flat of Denver to visit me in
Speaker 2: my studio and uh and so I keep my hand
Speaker 2: in uh. Uh and uh a Victor Glover, Uh, as
Speaker 2: you know, just went to the Moon and he's one
Speaker 2: of my he's one of my protegees, by the way.
Speaker 2: Uh and and uh doing this mission we managed to
Speaker 2: talk over the phone during the last mission that he
Speaker 2: went up and did all that magic stuff that they
Speaker 2: do up there now. So I'm I'm glad to be
Speaker 2: on your program, and like I said, I am having
Speaker 2: a few healthy issues right now.
Speaker 1: Do you want to honor your service and not to
Speaker 1: keep you too long here? I know this is late
Speaker 1: for you, but also I want to mention this, and
Speaker 1: I think the audience needs to know you're an accomplished sculptor.
Speaker 1: This is interesting. Your passion has always been art, obviously
Speaker 1: the love of space in the United States Air Force,
Speaker 1: your services very much honored. He'sk you have completed that
Speaker 1: as a number of public monuments, including the Texas African
Speaker 1: American History Memorial on the grounds of the Texas State
Speaker 1: Capitol and among others, the African American History Monument on
Speaker 1: the grounds of the South Carolina State House. That's an
Speaker 1: interesting thing. Your passion has always been obviously looking skyward.
Speaker 1: But tell us about the passion for being an artist
Speaker 1: and a sculptor. That's an incredible skill, something that I'm
Speaker 1: not even familiar with. Share with us a little bit
Speaker 1: about that. It's amazing.
Speaker 2: Well, I this is you know, a very verse change.
Speaker 2: I had two options to make a life's work. I
Speaker 2: grew up on a farm in Kansas City, and I
Speaker 2: came out of the chute making art from the time
Speaker 2: I was sort of school when I was two years old,
Speaker 2: and I started doing art. At that time, I was
Speaker 2: doing full bodies and when I was two and three
Speaker 2: and four years old, where the other kids was doing
Speaker 2: stick figures. And I was an artist all the way
Speaker 2: through school. As a matter of fact, when I graduated
Speaker 2: from high school, I got an art scholarship to the
Speaker 2: Kansity Art Institute. But the other alternative option I had
Speaker 2: was I grew up on a farm that was right
Speaker 2: next to the Sabine Airport Fairfax Airport in Kansas City,
Speaker 2: and from the from the time I was two and three,
Speaker 2: Mom used to take us to the me and my
Speaker 2: oldest sisters at the airport to tell stories about how
Speaker 2: big the world was, and this airport was a great
Speaker 2: vehicle because these planes took off and went some magic place,
Speaker 2: and they come back and they land and it'd been
Speaker 2: to some magic place. And I so I started going
Speaker 2: to the airport every day and I got my first
Speaker 2: flight and the Steerman when I was eight years old,
Speaker 2: I got a job cleaning out airplanes for pilots that
Speaker 2: are from Kansas and Missouri that went to Colorado for
Speaker 2: hunting trips. There was no war at the time, so
Speaker 2: as a results, I was around airplanes all of my
Speaker 2: early life, and I started studying about flying as and
Speaker 2: I didn't have any hopes of being a flying root
Speaker 2: for real, because all these people were around row white guys,
Speaker 2: you know, and I was this little little little brown
Speaker 2: kid going to the airport every day, and they kind
Speaker 2: of adopted me. But I got this fascinated with with
Speaker 2: fascination with flying. And I had a paper and I
Speaker 2: was throwing papers all the way through college, and I was,
Speaker 2: you know, I had this art scholarship, so I had
Speaker 2: to make a decision as to whether I was going
Speaker 2: to be an artist or or a pilot gun. But
Speaker 2: I was throwing my papers. I had a black paper
Speaker 2: rod and a white paper rout and I was, like
Speaker 2: I said, I was in college storm newspapers, and on
Speaker 2: the front page of the black paper was a black
Speaker 2: pilot was a tuskegeearm and they got shot down in Korea,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, I got this, oh my god,
Speaker 2: they're letting black folks fly airplanes and what. And I
Speaker 2: immediately apply for pilot training and they sent me to Denver.
Speaker 2: Thirty three able from this college to Denver, and I
Speaker 2: was the only I was the thirty three. I was
Speaker 2: the only one that passed a pilot training. Two other
Speaker 2: guys pass from a navigator And so the Air Force
Speaker 2: just sucked me right up and said, you know we
Speaker 2: want you now.
Speaker 1: You're right. In those days, African Americans were not probably
Speaker 1: what in the pilot seat. Much of your story is amazing.
Speaker 1: Ed Dwight, as we've mentioned before, a gentleman who was
Speaker 1: selected by President John F. Kennedy to be the first
Speaker 1: African American astronaut in space. The story continues that he
Speaker 1: finally got his wish and rightfully so, for his service
Speaker 1: to America by flying in Blue Origins NS twenty five
Speaker 1: mission in twenty twenty five. As thou build, not to
Speaker 1: put you in a different light here, but this is interesting.
Speaker 1: The oldest person to ever participate in a spaceflight previously
Speaker 1: held by William Shadner