On August 30, 1983, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off with Guion "Guy" Bluford Jr., who became the first African-American in space. On 16 June 1963, Tereshkova was launched on a solo mission aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6.She spent more than 70 hours orbiting the Earth, two years after Yuri Gagarin’s first human-crewed flight in space. Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier.

However, few know about the moment these two worlds collided, when the White House and NASA scrambled to put the first black astronaut into orbit.

Thirty years ago Friday (Aug. 30), Guion "Guy" Bluford became the first African American in space, launching into low-Earth orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. He was 30. Just as women had to wait a while to fly, so did qualified black astronauts.

Ways to Watch; Watch Videos; America's experiences during the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race are well documented. Guion "Guy" Bluford, Jr. often told people he didn't join NASA just to become the first black man to fly to orbit, but of course, that was part of his story. Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. America's first African-American in space brought out crowds of people to watch as he embarked on a history-making flight to space on August 30, 1983.

Johannesburg: Mandla Maseko, a South African man who had won the opportunity to become the first black African to go into space, has died in a motorcycle crash. The first woman to travel in space was Soviet cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova. It took a long time for space to begin to integrate.

'Black In Space' Documentary Looks At The 1st Black Astronaut That Almost Was A new documentary looks at America's struggle to send its first black astronaut into space.