Ellison Onizuka, born June 24, 1946 in Kealakekua, Hawaii (which was not even part of the US then), is the first Asian-American in space and the first person of Japanese origin to reach space. He went into space twice, first on Discovery (STS-51-C) in January 1985 and then Challenger (STS-51-L) in January 1986. He perished when Challenger blew up shortly after launch.
Onizuka Air Force Station in Sunnyvale, California is dedicated to him. He has an asteroid and a crater on the moon named after him. The airport in Kona, Hawaii has been renamed Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport, and he even has a shuttlecraft, which has appeared in three episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, named after him.
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