In 1961 he went to the Soviet Union for training on the MiG-15, He was the first Black and Latin person to reach space, in September 1980. Brigadier General Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, a Cuban of African descent, was the first black astronaut in space. Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez went into space 3 years before NASA's Guion Bluford, but usually gets excluded by US centric lists, because he is Cuban. Tamayo Méndez was born in Guantánamo, Cuba on January 29, 1942. Brigadier Gen. Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, a person of Afro-Cuban descent, poses for a portrait in his spacesuit.

Motion of condolence passed for fallen police officers. After the revolution of 1959, Tamayo Méndez joined the Cuban air force as a pilot. Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Cuban pilot and cosmonaut, the first Latin American, the first person of African descent, and the first Cuban to fly in space.

Mass exodus of non-citizens to trigger historic fall in population.

Orphaned at the age of one year, he was ultimately adopted by foster parents Rafael Tamaya and Esperanza Méndez.