Ellison Onizuka
Ellison Onizuka | |
---|---|
USAF | |
Time in space | 3d 1h 33m |
Selection | NASA Group 8 (1978) |
Missions | STS-51-C STS-51-L (disaster) |
Mission insignia |
Ellison Shoji Onizuka (
Early life
Onizuka was born on June 24, 1946, to
Onizuka graduated from
Onizuka married Lorna Leiko Yoshida on June 7, 1969,[7] while completing his studies at the University of Colorado. They had two daughters, Janelle Onizuka-Gillilan (b. 1969) and Darien Lei Shizue Onizuka-Morgan (b. 1975).
Air Force career
On January 15, 1970, Onizuka entered active duty with the
From August 1974 to July 1975, Onizuka attended the
NASA career
Onizuka was selected for the astronaut program in January 1978 and completed one year of evaluation and training in August 1979.[11] Later, he worked in the experimentation team, Orbiter test team, and launch support crew at Kennedy Space Center for the STS-1 and STS-2. At NASA, Onizuka worked on the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) test and revision software team.
Onizuka's first space mission took place on January 24, 1985, with the launch of mission
Onizuka was assigned to the mission
Following the Challenger disaster, examination of the recovered vehicle cockpit revealed that three of the crew members' Personal Egress Air Packs were activated: those of Onizuka, Resnik, and Smith. The location of Smith's activation switch, on the back side of his seat, means that either Resnik or Onizuka could have activated it for him. This is the only evidence available from the disaster that shows Onizuka and Resnik were alive after the cockpit separated from the vehicle. However, if the cabin had lost pressure, the packs alone would not have sustained the crew during the two-minute descent.[13]
Onizuka was buried at the
Memberships and distinctions
Onizuka belonged to the following organizations: Society of Flight Test Engineers, the
Among Onizuka's distinctions are the
Legacy
Onizuka Air Force Station[15] in Sunnyvale, California and Onizuka Village family housing on Hickam Air Force Base are dedicated to Onizuka.[16]
The Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center at
Two
ISS resupply spacecraft was also named after Onizuka (S.S. Ellison Onizuka).The Onizuka Center for International Astronomy, named in Onizuka's honor, is the mid-level support and visitor complex for the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii. It includes a Visitor Information Station as well as dining, lodging, office, and maintenance facilities for observatory staff and astronomers.[18] A plaque of his face is mounted on a boulder by the entrance to the Visitor Information Station. Triangle Fraternity has the Ellison Onizuka Young Alumnus Award in tribute to him.
The Ann & H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences building at the University of Colorado at Boulder features a conference room named after Onizuka on the third floor. The
Page 28 (Page X of additional page inserts, or page 52 of the extended length version) of every new standard U.S. passport contains this quotation: "Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds... to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation." - Ellison Onizuka
The Hawaii Space Grant Consortium holds an annual Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Science Day[20] at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo for students in grades 4–12, parents and teachers. El Camino College in Torrance, California hosts an annual Onizuka Space Science Day,[21] jointly organized by the Onizuka Memorial Committee.[22]
The students at the United States Air Force Test Pilot School present the Onizuka Prop Wash Award to the classmate who contributed most to class spirit and morale.[23]
On January 1, 2017, the airport in Onizuka's home district of Kona was renamed Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole.[24]
Clear Lake High School, where Onizuka's children went to school, has on display a soccer ball that was on board the Challenger during the accident. It was given to Ellison on behalf of the soccer team that he coached, and for which his children played, to be brought into space. The ball was retrieved during the recovery efforts and donated to the school. In 2016,
A Cygnus resupply vehicle on ISS resupply mission Cygnus NG-16 was named the SS Ellison Onizuka in his honor.[26] It launched on August 10, 2021, and arrived at the ISS on August 12.
In media
- Onizuka was portrayed by Keone Young in the 1990 TV movie Challenger.
- In Star Trek: The Next Generation, a shuttlecraft carried aboard the starship Enterprise bears Onizuka's name, as seen in the three episodes "The Ensigns of Command", "The Mind's Eye" and "The Outcast."
See also
- List of Asian American astronauts
References
- ISBN 9781598842401. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
- ^ "Challenger astronaut and Hawaii native Ellison S. Onizuka always wanted to go to space". Plain Dealer. January 26, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
- ^ Hurley, Timothy (January 28, 2016). "Hawaii to honor homegrown hero". staradvertiser.com. Honolulu, HI: Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016. Alt URL
- )
- ^ "The National Future Farmer" (PDF). iupui.edu. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
- ISBN 0-312-36653-1. Archived from the originalon December 19, 2006. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "iCRIS Record Search". Boulder County Recording Division. Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
- ^ a b "National Cemetery Administration. U.S. Veterans Gravesites, ca.1775-2006". Provo, Utah, United States: The Generations Network, Inc. 2006.
- ISBN 978-1-60034-096-3.
- ^ a b "ELLISON S. ONIZUKA (COLONEL, USAF), NASA ASTRONAUT (DECEASED)" (PDF). January 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- ^ "In Honor of Ellison Onizuka". The Rotarian. April 1986.
- ISBN 978-0-312-35811-2.
- ^ Joseph P. Kerwin. "Letter from Joseph Kerwin to Richard Truly relating to the deaths of the astronauts in the Challenger accident". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on July 23, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
- ^ An Act To Authorize the President to Promote Posthumously the Late Lieutenant Colonel Ellison S. Onizuka to the Grade of Colonel.
- ISBN 978-0-8117-2781-5.
- ^ "Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka Space Center". 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ^ "Downtown Los Angeles Photo Gallery - City Sightseeing Tours". www.inetours.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
- ^ "Visitor Information Station". Onizuka Center for International Astronomy official web site. University of Hawaii Institutute for Astronomy. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
- ^ "On Silver Wings" (PDF). MILEHIGHCON 2004. Silver Wings Newsletter. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 25, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ "Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Science Day". Hawai'i Space Grand Consortium. 2009. Archived from the original on September 18, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
- ^ "Onizuka Space Science Day". Archived from the original on March 24, 2014.
- ^ "Onizuka Memorial Committee Science Day".
- ^ Taylor, Annamaria (January 6, 2010). "TPS class 09A graduates". United States Air Force. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
- ^ "Kona International Airport takes on new name for the new year, for Challenger astronaut Ellison Onizuka".
- ^ "The inside story of the soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^ Gembec, Martin (August 17, 2021). "Thomasův fotokoutek 45". Kosmonautix.cz (in Czech). Retrieved February 19, 2022.
Sources
- This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of July 8, 2005.
External links
- "ELLISON S. ONIZUKA (COLONEL, USAF), NASA ASTRONAUT (DECEASED)" (PDF). January 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
- Astronaut Memorial Foundation website