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Ellison Onizuka

American astronaut from Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, first Asian American to reach space, later died in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ349365 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ellison Shoji Onizuka (Japanese: エリソン・ショージ・オニヅカ, 鬼塚 承次, Hepburn: Onizuka Shōji; June 24, 1946 – January 28, 1986) was an American astronaut, engineer, and U.S. Air Force flight test engineer from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger, on which he was serving as Mission Specialist for mission STS-51-L. Onizuka was the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese ancestry to reach space.

Early life

Onizuka was born on June 24, 1946, to Japanese American parents Masamitsu and Mitsue Onizuka. He was a Buddhist. Onizuka had two older sisters, Shirley and Norma, and a younger brother, Claude, who became the family spokesman after the Challenger disaster. Growing up, Onizuka was an active participant in FFA, 4-H, and the Boy Scouts of America, where he reached the level of Eagle Scout.

Onizuka graduated from Konawaena High School in 1964. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering in June 1969 and a Master of Science degree in that field the following December from the University of Colorado Boulder. Onizuka participated in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps during his time there and is an alumnus of Triangle Fraternity, the AFROTC Arnold Air Society, as well as a member of the Tau Beta Pi honor society.

Onizuka married Lorna Leiko Yoshida on June 7, 1969, while completing his studies at the University of Colorado. They had two daughters, Janelle Onizuka-Gillilan (b.

Editorial summary

“Ellison Onizuka” enters the record as american astronaut from Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, first Asian American to reach space, later died in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ellison, Onizuka and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1946, 1986, 1964, 1969—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1946-06-24. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Ellison, Onizuka and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Ellison Onizuka” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ellison, Onizuka and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q349365. VIAF identifies the subject as 252979092. The Library of Congress control number is n86105656. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1986, 1964 and 1969.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ellison Onizuka” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.