NAME: Ellison S. Onizuka (Lieutenant Colonel, USAF)
NASA Astronaut (Deceased)
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/onizuka.html


PERSONAL DATA:
Born June 24, 1946, in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii. Died January 28,
1986. He is survived by his wife, Lorna, and two daughters. He
enjoyed running, hunting, fishing, and indoor/outdoor sports.

EDUCATION:
Graduated from Konawaena High School, Kealakekua, Hawaii, in 1964;
received bachelor and master of science degrees in Aerospace
Engineering in June and December 1969, respectively, from the
University of Colorado.

ORGANIZATIONS:
Member of the Society of Flight Test Engineers, the Air Force
Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Tau, and the Triangle Fraternity.

SPECIAL HONORS:
Presented the Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Meritorious
Service Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force
Organizational Excellence Award, and National Defense Service Medal.

EXPERIENCE:
Onizuka entered on active duty with the United States Air Force in
January 1970 after receiving his commission at the University of
Colorado through the 4-year ROTC program as a distinguished military
graduate. As an aerospace flight test engineer with the Sacramento
Air Logistics Center at McClellan Air Force Base, California, he
participated in flight test programs and systems safety engineering
for the F-84, F-100, F-105, F-111, EC-121T, T-33, T-39, T-28, and A-1
aircraft. He attended the USAF Test Pilot School from August 1974 to
July 1975, receiving formal academic and flying instruction in
performance, stability and control, and systems flight testing of
aircraft. In July 1975, he was assigned to the Air Force Flight Test
Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California, serving on the USAF
Test Pilot School staff initially as squadron flight test engineer
and later as chief of the engineering support section in the training
resources branch. His duties involved instruction of USAF Test Pilot
School curriculum courses and management of all flight test
modifications to general support fleet aircraft (A-7, A-37, T-38, F-
4, T-33, and NKC-135) used by the test pilot school and the flight
test center. He has logged more than 1,700 hours flying time.

NASA EXPERIENCE:
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, he
completed a 1-year training and evaluation period in August 1979. He
subsequently worked on orbiter test and checkout teams and launch
support crews at the Kennedy Space Center for STS-1 and STS-2. He
worked on software test and checkout crew at the Shuttle Avionics and
Integration Laboratory (SAIL), and has supported numerous other
technical assignments ranging from astronaut crew equipment/orbiter
crew compartment coordinator to systems and payload development.
He first flew as a mission specialist on STS 51-C, the first Space
Shuttle Department of Defense mission, which launched from Kennedy
Space Center, Florida on January 24, 1985. He was accompanied by
Captain Thomas K. Mattingly (spacecraft commander), Colonel Loren J.
Shriver (pilot), fellow mission specialist, Colonel James F. Buchli,
and Lieutenant Colonel Gary E. Payton (DOD payload specialist).
During the mission Onizuka was responsible for the primary payload
activities, which included the deployment of a modified Inertial
Upper Stage (IUS). STS 51-C Discovery completed 48 orbits of the
Earth before landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 27,
1985. With the completion of this flight he logged a total of 74
hours in space.

Lieutenant Colonel Onizuka was a mission specialist on STS 51-L which
was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38:00 EST
on January 28, 1986. The crew on board the Orbiter Challenger
included the spacecraft commander, Mr. F.R. Scobee, the pilot,
Commander M.J. Smith (USN), fellow mission specialists, Dr. R.E.
McNair, and Dr. J.A. Resnik, as well as two civilian payload
specialists, Mr. G.B. Jarvis and Mrs. S. C. McAuliffe. The STS 51-L
crew died on January 28, 1986 when Challenger exploded 1 min. 13 sec.
after launch.

JANUARY 1986


http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-
commission/table-of-contents.html
Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger
Accident / (In compliance with Executive Order 12546 of February 3,
1986)


http://planet-hawaii.com/astronautonizuka/
The Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center is a not-for-profit
Educational Facility established to commemorate Col. Ellison S.
Onizuka, U.S. Air Force, who lost his life aboard the Space Shuttle
Challenger on January 28, 1986 along with six other American
Astronauts. The Center is dedicated to reaching out to children and
adults to further their understanding of Science and Space through
interactive displays and experiences.


http://www.awesome80s.com/Awesome80s/Science/Space/Shuttle/Challenger_
Tragedy/Challenger_Ellison_Onizuka.asp
Ellison S. Onizuka, was the last of the three mission specialists. He
had been born in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, on June 24, 1946, of
Japanese-American parents. He attended the University of Colorado,
receiving B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering in June and December
1969, respectively. While at the university he married Lorna Leido
Yoshida of Hawaii, and the couple eventually had two children. He
also participated in the Air Force R.O.T.C. program, leading to a
commission in January 1970. Onizuka served on active duty with the
Air Force until January 1978 when he was selected as a NASA
astronaut. With the Air Force in the early 1970s he was an aerospace
flight test engineer at the Sacramento Air Logistics Center. After
July 1975 he was assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center at
Edwards Air Force Base, California, as squadron flight test officer
and later as chief of the engineering support section.

When Onizuka was selected for the astronaut corps he entered into a
one year training program and then became eligible for assignment as
a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flights. He worked on
orbiter test and checkout teams and launch support crews at the
Kennedy Space Center for the first two Shuttle missions. Since he was
an Air Force officer on detached duty with NASA, Onizuka was a
logical choice to serve on the first dedicated Department of Defense
classified mission. He was a mission specialist on STS-51-C, taking
place 24-27 Jan. 1985 on the Discovery orbiter. The Challenger flight
was his second Shuttle mission.



http://www.dailycelebrations.com/070901.htm
"Make your life count-- and your world will be a better place because
you tried." ~ Ellison Onizuka

A man who believed in his dreams and reached the stars, Ellison S.
Onizuka (1946-1986) was born in Kealakekua, Kona and was Hawaii's
first astronaut and the nation's first Asian American in space.

"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," said the humble country boy who became a Hawaiian role
model and hero.

Called "El" by his family and friends, Onizuka was the grandson of
farmers and first son of grocers. An eagle scout and idealist, he was
chosen from over 8,000 candidates and successfully completed the 1985
Discovery mission before he and six others lost their life in the
tragic 1986 Challenger explosion.

A strong advocate for education, he shared his positive quest for
adventure with children throughout the state, "From your vantage
point, your education and imagination will carry you to places which
we won't believe possible... Think of the new horizons you can
explore."

Today, his dream lives on with the Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center
museum at Keahole Airport, and the Onizuka Center for International
Astronomy at Hale Pohaku on Mauna Kea.


http://translate.google.com/translate?
hl=en&sl=it&u=http://web.tiscali.it/challenger/ellison.html&prev=/sear
ch%3Fq%3DEllison%2BOnizuka%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-
8%26sa%3DG
Ellison Onizuka was an astronaut professional, one of the three '
mission specialists ', with to Judith Resnick and Ronald McNair ,
present to edge of the Challenger the 28 morning of January. Already
it had been in the space to edge of the STS 51-C, than in 74 hours it
had executed 48 complete land orbits.

Once, $R-with regard to its travel in the space, it declared
pragmatically: "Non I have had no spiritual detection or other. They
have been engaged during all the mission and also after, with the
landing, debriefing and the all rest, the rhythm is not fermato".
Onizuka, buddhista, were been born from parents nippo-Americans to
Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii the 24 June 1946. After it are graduated to
the Konawaena High School in 1964, one graduated and it obtained
master in Aerospace Engineering respective in the June and a December
1969 to the University of the Colorado; to testimony of its strong
personality words of one of its former university professors are to
lusinghiere, Robert Culp: "She was an optimal student, estroverso and
a natural leader in all that that it made".

Ellison Onizuka entered in the Air Force like ' aerospace flight test
engineer' to Sacramento, near the Air Logistics Center from which it
was transferred in 1975 in favor of Edwards Air Force Base in the
same city.

As many others its connect to edge of the 51-L were admitted to the
program space them of NASA in 1978 and attended a course of
preparation of the duration of a year. The mission 51-C, of the
Discovery series, was before dedicated to the Department of the
Defense (supposes that the cargo to edge was a sophisticated planned
satellite in order to spy on the Soviet communications): for this
reason it seemed appropriated to choose in the cloth of ' mission
specialist' an official of the Air Force distaccato to NASA, that is
just Onizuka.

In its second mission, this time on the Challenger 51-L, would have
had to take care itself of the Tracking and the Given to Relay
Satellite (TDRS), greatest and sophisticated orbital station for
transmissions never constructed before, in a position to managing the
communications between Earth, satellites and shuttle (the cost of the
entire system was estimated around to 100 million dollars). Not only:
Onizuka also would have had to execute a experiment on the comet of
Halley ("says to me that will have one of the better sights!", it
commented).

When the exploded Challenger Onizuka had 39 years; it left one moglie
(Lorna Leiko Yoshido) and two daughters of 16 and 10 years.


http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/people/astronauts/onizuka.html
Ellison Onizuka was an American astronaut who was born on June 24,
1946, in Hawaii. Before he became an astronaut, Onizuka was a test
pilot. He has flown over 1700 hours on 43 different aircraft.

Ellison Onizuka became an astronaut in 1978. He has spent over 72
hours in space on two spaceflights.

Onizuka became the first Asian-American in space aboard Mission 51-C
in 1985. This was a Department of Defense mission. Onizuka was killed
in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986.



http://www.rafu.com/per_onizuka.html
Onizuka: A Legacy Lives On
The 11th annual Onizuka Space Science Conference celebrates the
dreams and accomplishments of Ellison Shoji Onizuka.

by Jeff Liu

The Challenger Crew

On Jan. 28, 1986, millions of television screens around the world
flashed the same horrific sequence. As the explosion of the space
shuttle Challenger repeated over and over, a profound silence
followed in classrooms, living rooms and places of worship.

America had lost a piece of themselves, and the Japanese American
community had lost a hero. The white-plumed trails from the
Challenger's pair of booster rockets hung like a dark cloud over an
entire nation.

The crew of the Challenger, their legacy lives on in everything that
we do," Astronaut James Reilly said as he addressed the 600 students
and teachers attending the 11th annual Onizuka Space Science
Conference at the University of Southern California Saturday
afternoon.

The theme for Saturday's conference was "Pioneering Science in
Space," and the program sought to increase high school student
interest in space and science related fields; to foster awareness of
educational and career opportunities in these fields; and to carry on
Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka's favorite activity of helping students
by sharing his dreams, striving for excellence, realizing the
importance of education, sharing the excitement of the U.S. space
program and inspiring them to appreciate the greatness of America.

Hosted by the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Committee and USC and
sponsored by Honda Motor Company, Inc., the conference is held every
year to honor the dreams and contributions of the late Onizuka.
Invitations are sent to high schools from Bakersfield down to San
Diego, encouraging students and teachers to attend the one-day event.
And every year approximately 600 to 800 come.

Like the 14 students from Jefferson Middle School in Torrance, who
accompanied their teacher, Kimiko Ego. Ego's 8th grade class was
invited because of their outstanding caliber.

"We're here because we respect Ellison Onizuka's dreams," the teacher
said, "and not to see things as they are, but beyond."

"One of the goals of the committee is to continue that legacy
that 'El' started," said board member Buddy Takata.

"It was created because Ellison was a believer in sharing his
knowledge and experience with the younger generation," acknowledged
Claude Onizuka, the astronaut's brother. "He wanted people to share
any knowledge he had. This community felt that a space science day
would be something to memorialize what Ellison had dreams of doing."

Ellison S. Onizuka in Jet

"Every chance he had, he tried to visit different schools or
organizations," Claude Onizuka continued. "It was a constant thing
with him to visit any young group or school that was available that
would want to have him speak. That's why I think he had such a broad
base where he touched a lot of people, 'cuz he was always willing to
make presentations."

The concept of holding a yearly conference began a year after the
Challenger explosion, when friends, family and volunteers organized a
memorial service at Nishi Hongwanji church in downtown Los Angeles.
Astronauts Jim Buchli, Loren Shriver, Gary Payton attended the
service as well as the entire Onizuka family from Kona, Hawaii. A
lecture series held by the astronauts was followed by a luau.

"Right after that, we decided, 'well, let's organize a committee, a
group, to, shall we say, perpetuate the name of Ellison Onizuka in
memory of him, for the things that he was doing; that is, helping
students in terms of their education, inspiring them toward further
study, have a dream,' that kind of thing," said Ryo Munekata,
secretary of the board.

And every year since the first memorial in 1987, the keynote speaker
has been an astronaut from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA).

"It isn't everyday that you can get an astronaut, where the students
can meet face-to-face with an astronaut and ask questions and talk to
him and have that personal contact," remarked Matsuoka. "So I think
that's one of the reasons what makes our program so unique."

Fortunate that NASA has been so cooperative in helping the committee,
Matsuoka remarked that presentations like the one by Astronaut Reilly
really sparked an interest by the students.

"We had to stop the number of students because we had so many that
wanted questions answered. And we haven't had that kind of response
before," he acknowledged.

"It wasn't as large as some of our previous conferences, but I think
the enthusiasm of the students, the response that the astronaut got,
was greater than has been before."

In addition to the presentation by Astronaut Reilly, Steve
Shackelford of the Federal Aviation Administration lectured on "Wacky
Weather Wonders or Why It's Not Smart to Mess with Mother Nature,"
while Dr. Charles G. Sammis of USC explained to students how to
understand earthquakes. College science majors also held lab
demonstrations on a variety of chemistry and astronomy related
subjects.

Students were also treated to a free lunch, a tour of the USC campus,
and a complimentary ticket to the IMAX theater.

"We feel very good about it," admitted Munekata. "I don't know how to
say it but, we enjoy putting it on, helping the students. Of course
our main interest is in sciences, but hopefully a program like this
will help them aspire for something and the need for education."

And what would Astronaut Onizuka have thought about the conference
Saturday?

"Oh, he would have loved it," Matsuoka said. "Yeah, I think he would
have loved it."


http://www.challenger.org/cc/cc_body_51onizuka.htm
ELLISON S. ONIZUKA
Mission Specialist/Challenger STS, 51-L

El Onizuka was selected as an astronaut candidate in January 1978,
along with fellow Challenger crew members Ron McNair, Dick Scobee and
Judy Resnik. After completing a one-year training and evaluation
period he was qualified for future shuttle flights as a mission
specialist. His first mission, 51-C, was the January 1985 flight of
Discovery, the first shuttle mission flown exclusively for the
Department of Defense.

A 38-year old Air Force lieutenant colonel, his duties included
tracking instruments during launch and re-entry, and deploying a
Department of Defense satellite using the shuttle's 50-foot remote
arm. Onizuka was commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1970
after he received his bachelor and master of science degrees in
aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado as a member of
the ROTC program.

He was then assigned as an aerospace flight test engineer with the
Sacramento Air Logistics Center at McClellan Air Force Base in
California. After attending the USAF Test Pilot school, Onizuka was
transferred to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force
Base in California.

He was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force
Meritorious Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. El
Onizuka was born June 24, 1946, in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii. During
his career he logged more than 1,700 hours flight time, including 74
hours in space. He is survived by his wife, the former Lorna Leiko
Yoshida, and their two children, Janelle Mitsue and Darian Lei Shizue.