Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
I want to highlight an exceptional Afro Latino — Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the first black astronaut. Arnaldo was born in Guantánamo, Cuba in 1942. He was orphaned as a baby and raised by foster parents. During his youth, Arnaldo slayed the game by studying while working shining shoes and selling vegetables to help his family get by.
Arnaldo began his aviation career in 1960 when he began taking classes for aviation technicians at the Rebeldi Technical Institute. Not satisfied with simply being a technician, Arnaldo began training to become a fighter pilot at the Yesik Higher Air Force School in the Soviet Union. As a fighter pilot, Arnaldo flew missions during the Cuban missile crisis and was a part of a group of Cuban forces that fought during the Vietnamese war. Arnaldo quickly ascended the ranks to eventually become Lieutenant Colonel in the Cuban armed forces.
In 1978, Arnaldo was selected to be apart of the Interkosmos program, a Soviet space program designed to help the Soviet Union allies with space missions using Soyuz and Salyut spacecraft. Arnaldo trained for two years in Star City, Russia (near Moscow) for his first space mission. In September 1980, Arnaldo and fellow astronaut Yuri Romanenko flew a Soyuz space shuttle to the Salyut 6 space station on a week long mission to perform research experiments aboard the Salyut space station. In honor of his space mission, Arnaldo received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin, the title of the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, with Gold Star Medal, and the Order of Playa Girón and was promoted to Brigadier General.
Arnaldo continues to make you feel mediocre about your life by serving as a member of the National Assembly of People’s Power since the 1980s, representing his home municipality of Baracoa.
Continue to win at life, Arnaldo.
Sources:
http://www.blackpast.org/gah/tamayo-mendez-arnaldo-1942
http://www.granma.cu/granm…/secciones/candidatos/prov-14.htm
This is the super sparknotes history of Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez. Anything to add? Something I missed? Comment below!
