Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez: 38 yrs ago 1st Hispanic,1st African descendant,1st LatinAmerican in Orbit

The Peace of God to all that belong to the Light
Dear Readers,

The Apollo program that sent the first manned missions the moon officially ended in July 1975 with the famous docking of Apollo 18 with Soyuz 19. Today's date but in 1980 was the very first time in History that an African descendent human became in orbit, moreover an African-American in the continental sense of the word.

His name was the Cuban Cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez, a veteran of Vietnam war, who flew in the Russian mission Sojuz 38.

Please check:
www.astronautix.com...

www.britannica.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

www.blackpast.org...

Although America had started a culture of Civil rights since late 1950s No Mercury, Gemini or Apollo mission ever carried an African American to space, as well as No Hispanic ever, Nor a woman too.

Mr. Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez who has the military Highest possible rank of Brigadier General in the Cuban Arm forces was then also the first Not US citizen from the western hemisphere and the first Latin American to go to the outer space.

The first woman in space was the Russian Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, that was in 1962 also the third human to orbit the planet.

It is indeed an important anniversary for the Science and Engineering of the Continent but it leaves a bitter flavor, to verify that all the rhetoric around the defense of civil rights, as an extension of the spirit of the Universal declaration of Human Rights that is present on the preamble of the Independence declaration of 1776 and the Constitution that was celebrated yesterday, as well as the defense of Human rights that has ruled the external US policy along decades, that it was an external power from another continent, moreover one that has been traditionally attacked of not respectful of individual rights at all, the one that honored the minorities of this side of the world by considering one of their members to be sent to the space.

Other interesting and in some way ironic facts in his life is that Arnaldo Tamayo was born in the harbor of Guantanamo, the only place of Cuba that remained after the revolution of 1959 under control of US Naval forces and he became in his childhood orphan of mother and father.

The thread is open to all the ones interested in History of Aerospace technology progress and History but also of the ones concerned on the propaganda factor in the so called Space race.

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

Sweet baby Jesus you are uninformed.

He was the first latino in space because he was Cuban. Generally NASA didn't take in members of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Since then....

Robert Henry Lawrence - 1st African-American Astronaut.
Guion "Guy" Bluford - 1st African-American in Space.
Doctor Bernard Harris, Jr. - 1st African-American to walk in space.
Frederick Gregory - 1st African American to pilot a spacecraft, 1st African-American to command a spacecraft.
Doctor Mae Jemison - 1st African-American Woman in space.
Doctor Ronald E. McNair - Hero lost aboard Challenger.
Michael P. Anderson - Hero lost aboard Columbia.

First American Hispanic woman was in space in 1993.

Ellen Ochoa has spent nearly 1,000 hours in space during her four missions that include two atmospheric research flights and two missions to the International Space Station. Her first venture was in April 1993 during a nine-day science mission aboard the Shuttle Discovery. While most of her time was occupied using a suite of complex instruments to better understand the impact of the sun's cycle on Earth, Ochoa found a few minutes to use another instrument, the flute she brought from home.

List of American Hispanic Astronauts here

We can go on and on and on....

So are we supposed to be bitter that it happened first on a Russian craft in the 80's?

If it makes you feel better, we got around to it in 1985 with Rodolfo Neri Vela (a Mexican National, no less.)

You have a very odd and twisted way of looking at things.

why is race an accomplishment..

What do we care about race in 2018? People like you perpetuate this identity politics crap and set us back decades. Space exploration is about HUMAN achievement.

It is indeed an important anniversary for the Science and Engineering of the Continent but it leaves a bitter flavor, to verify that all the rhetoric around the defense of civil rights, as an extension of the spirit of the Universal declaration of Human Rights that is present on the preamble of the Independence declaration of 1776 and the Constitution that was celebrated yesterday, as well as the defense of Human rights that has ruled the external US policy along decades, that it was an external power from another continent, moreover one that has been traditionally attacked of not respectful of individual rights at all, the one that honored the minorities of this side of the world by considering one of their members to be sent to the space.

That was one of the most painful run-on sentences I've ever read.

But yes, it was nice of the Soviets to try and get the attention off the Mariel Boat-Lift by sending a solid, upstanding Communist Cuban into space. Much like when they sent a Pole up after a Polish priest became Pope, or when they sent a Czech up when the Czechs started having real problems with anti-Communists, etc.

reply to: Lumenari

With all respect, invoking Jesus here is going to change the reality and I am doubtful that is doing any favor the open the access of progress to the minorities, the constructive topic the thread wants to discuss if you don't understand it.

There is no need to launch a personal attack to see that the Mexican Astronaut you are mentioning went to space about 5 years after the Cuban cosmonaut, when No American Minorities have had that chance.

Do you know that the first Native American to go to space was just in 2002?

John Herrington, 1st Native American in space

Considered the number of slots available to travel to space in 1960s and 1970s that does Not look very fair, to don't say it is really odd.

Now, objectively talking there are many Cubans that do not have African Ancestry at all, and if the idea was to chose a representative person of the general population of the island the choice of Tamayo-Mendez was not necessarily the logical one.

All the figures of the Astronautics you are mentioning went to the outer space after the Cuban Cosmonaut, none of them were even closely in time frame to him, among the African in-heritage ones you have brought to discussion.

The first ones of African ancestry, as well as of Hispanic background, you are mentioning became Astronauts during the era of the Space Shuttle, that is the fourth generation of the USA Space program.

There were No women, No Hispanic, No African descendants at all in any of the missions of the entire Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, none of those minorities were at all represented in the opening of the space race or the conquest of the moon. The statistics show that other minorities like the Asian, Muslim or Jewish Americans were not in better position, were also segregated of that opportunity.

Now, since the intention of the thread is to motivate a serious discussion through actual information we must recognize that at least one minority was able to go through the system of selection of Astronauts in America since the very early stages of the space program: the Italian Americans, with Wally Schirra who was in the Mercury program, the 5th American in Space and 9th man in the space, that was good but well to claim that Italians are nor white neither of European origin sounds really extreme.

Wally Schirra, First Italian American Astronaut

Now the discrimination was not only toward not white people, it was also of gender, the First woman astronaut sent to the space by America was almost a quarter of century after Valentina Tereshkova orbital flight, that was in a Vostok Spacecraft, a first generation Soviet one.

Now, the spirit of the thread is also to contribute in the discussion that is right now so spread in media about when the Greatness of America in terms of technological, educational, scientific and social progress began or ended or if it still last as it was before.

There are 3 thesis clearly confronted in such a discussion:

1) The one that sustains that America was Great in the past but it was no longer in the same situation at least when the present administration began, we can call it the Republican Antiestablishment one.

2) The one that supports that it has been equally great at the same level continuously since long time ago, something that was brought to discussion in the funeral of Senator John McCain, by his daughter, we can call it the traditional Republican establishment one.

3) Another one that sustains that America experience a huge slope downward in its greatness during the great recession and it started to recover its position in the previous administration, we can call it the Democratic average one.

What the substance of the thread is trying to underline, the situation of relative lack of equal opportunities for minorities that jump out of the page when we meditate in the flight of Arnaldo Tamayo of 1980, is that possibly none of those look like hypothesis is actually correct, or completely true, all of them are just partial explanations that try to ignore the whole equation that they try to describe.

It seems that the civil rights fight for protection of minorities in America was not solely moving ahead propelled by internal momentum, it was instead highly favored by the competition against external powers that were trying to move forward also, in their own particular way, to achieve some changes in openness about similar social aspects too.

What the actual facts, not the political rhetoric, are showing it is more that America, as other great nations in the History, has gradually unfolded periods of relatively interesting progress and increasing greatness forced by the competition against other political regimes or economic systems that also have been forced to improve by the American Competition.

In other words civilization unfolds everywhere pushed and boosted not just under internal ideal conditions but also by international competition so it is not the byproduct of a particular system.

Other interesting Statistics to support the claims of the opening post:

- The first Jewish ancestry person in the Space was the Russian cosmonaut Boris Volynov, in the Soyuz 5 by 1969, one of those first manned Soviet spacecrafts designed originally to try to reach the moon.

Cosmonaut Boris Volynov, first Jewish in Space

It took 17 years more until 1986 for America to sent to the space the first Jewish American, Astronaut Judith Resnik, who unfortunately died in the tragic accident of the Challenger.

List of Jewish American Astronauts

- The first Asian in Space was the Vietnamese Phan Tuam also in the same year of Tamayo flight, in July of 1980, in the Soyuz 37 the preceding mission of that space program.

Cosmonaut Phan Tuam, first Asian in Space

The first Asian Sent to the space by America was the Japanese American Ellison Onizuka, about 6 years later, another victim of the tragedy of the Challenger by the way.

Astronaut Ellison Onizuka

The first Muslim in space was the cosmonaut Musa Manarov, that traveled in 1978 in the Soyuz TM4 to the Mir Space Station.

Musa Manarov, first Muslim in space

The first muslim to be sent by Nasa to the Space was Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, by the way not American but a Saudi of royal blood in June of 1985 during the space Shuttle era.

List of Muslim Astronauts

All my deep respect to the Native,Hispanic, Jewish, African, Asian, Muslim Americans that have waited so much with admirable patience to see them advancing toward the opportunities science and technology can provide, and of course for the millions of intelligent girls and women that were possibly identifying themselves with motivating characters of fiction accounts like in Star Trek by Lieutenant Uhura, but in reality were not represented during the first quarter of century at all on the adventure to reach and conquer the last frontier: The Space.

Thanks

The Angel of Lightness

Your threads are always unreadable.

a reply to: The angel of light

Exploration of space not race like you would like, remember that....

Umm, The Angel of Lightness... LoL

a reply to: The angel of light

Only one Israeli astronaut....

angel of dark

a reply to: DarkestConspiracyMoon

If my threads seem to be unreadable ones for you it is pretty clear, from my statistics after 11 years posting here, that you need to exercise a little more your reading skills, since they reflect reception and interest of a lot of people in ATS.

Now, there were some omitted words or typos that I think deserve to be corrected in order to enhance clarity in the message, to avoid any possible misunderstanding, although the correct idea for a skillful reader was not difficult to grasp

In the opening post for instance:

It is indeed an important anniversary, for the Science and Engineering of the Continent, but it leaves a bitter flavor to verify that in spite of all the rhetoric around the defense of civil rights, as an extension of the spirit of the Universal declaration of Human Rights present on the preamble of the Independence declaration of 1776 and the Constitution, that was celebrated yesterday, as well as, the defense of Human rights that has ruled the external US policy along decades, that after all it was an external power from another continent, moreover, one that has been traditionally attacked of not respectful of individual rights at all, the one that honored the minorities of this side of the world by considering one of their members to be sent to the space.

In the second post also something that was not typed perfectly:

With all respect, invoking Jesus here is Not going to change the reality and I am doubtful that is doing any favor to open the access of progress to the minorities, that is the constructive topic the thread wants to discuss if you don't understand it.

Thanks for try to read anyway,

Good Night,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: odzeandennz

Who said race is an accomplishment?

It so hard to accept that in 1960s and 1970s the slots for preparation of good professional pilots, and therefore of candidates for astronauts, were all taken or assigned only to white males!

If that was not the case then why minorities peofessional and experienced pilots were not recruited at all by NASA at that time?

Why the History must wait until the era of the space shuttle, when it was no longer mandatory to be an air force pilot to be selected for going to space to see members of Minorities considered for such missions?

The Angel if Lightness

a reply to: [post=23779516]Spacespider[/post

Space Race was a term extensively used in 1960s and 1970s to describe the exploration of the space by the two superpowers.

I used it for Historic considerations, even Presidents Dwight D Eisenhower and John F Kennedy used it exhaustively in speeches.

The Angel if Lightness

a reply to: Shamrock6

Well, at least seems to me you saved the reputation of the forum by analizing this in a less emotional way than others that were pretty much thinking this was going to be a controversy between political propaganda systems.

From a more impartial perspective the exploration of space is a task that correspond to all humanity, No country can claim exclusive leadership on such a project.

The US program, if we remind carefully, was in part a continuation of the German one, without Verner Von Braun the moon could be still not visited by human beings, although it is clear that it was explored by the robotic spacecrafts Lunik sent by Rusia. It is not very smart to try to hide the fact that the first artifact made by men that went to the space were the V2 missiles in 1941, what we gain to react emotionally about that fact?.

Ignoring the contribution of other nations to learn the mysteries of the cosmos does not promote progress, to the contrary it risk a delay in understanding of many important phenomena for lack of collaboration. To invent the wheel several times is not the best strategy to move civilization ahead.

Science and technology speed up when more people have access to it, an elitist approach of developing research even in a space program promotes monopolies that constrain the pace of advance in getting results because increase subjectivity.

Thanks

The Angel of Lightness

The USSR made a habit of sending token minority nationality/gender people into space because it impressed nitwits around the world who thought it represented the true status of these non-majority representatives, usually who were one-off gimmicks never repeated. The OP seems a fine example of this target audience.

When the intention of a Cuban flight was announced, astute Western observers actually wrote that based on traditional Soviet dupe-the-dumbos stunts, the Cuban could well be black. When NASA scheduled a 3 1/2 hour spacewalk by the first woman, the USSR called back a retired Russian woman cosmonaut for rushed training to make a 3 hr 35 min spacewalk a few month before the pre-scheduled NASA mission.

Proof the 'foreign guest cosmonaut' program was an arbitrary stunt is that the countries involved -- Hungary, Bulgaria, Cuba, Mongolia, and Romania -- were launched in perfect alphabetic order.

a reply to: JimOberg

Well, in the case of the Soyuz 38, that was by itself an orbital laboratory the crew developed a total of 9 experiments in very diverse scientific disciplines, and once docked to the Salyut 6 space station another 11.

The following links provide a detailed description of the research done in orbit by Cosmonauts Romanenko and Tamayo. It is important to underline that the design of the experiments was done in collaboration of Russian Institutes with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

Please check:
www.spacefacts.de...

www.globalsecurity.org...

Thanks,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: JimOberg

Proof the 'foreign guest cosmonaut' program was an arbitrary stunt is that the countries involved -- Hungary, Bulgaria, Cuba, Mongolia, and Romania -- were launched in perfect alphabetic order.


Excuse me but what are you talking about?

Your last statement is pretty misinforming, there was Not any alphabetical ordering that can be established in the scheduling of their Intercosmos program.

Your assertion is wrong or false, it is not based on any actual facts, and reveal more ignorance than actual knowledge in the subject it is clear you are trying to attack or criticize for subjective reasons that do not look scientific at all and distort History of Aerospace technology.

The order of the missions of the program was;

- Czechoslovakia
- Polonia
- Democratic Republic of Germany
- Bulgaria
- Hungary
- Vietnam
- Cuba
- Mongolia
- Rumania
- France
- India
- Syria
- Bulgaria
- Afghanistan
- France

Please check;

Interkosmos Space program missions


It jump out of the page that at least two countries are repeated in the list and the one that might be the first if that would be in alphabetical ordering is almost at the end of it.

Cuba is after Vietnam, so i am wondering where did you learn mathematics or were alphabetized ?

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

Nobody was discriminated against in the early space program. A unique category of people were selectively discriminated FOR, based on experience and already-demonstrated skills. Catalogs of alleged slights to a few minorities is a job for the resentment industry that demands redress by modern society via compelled favoritism based on racial/gender standards.

BTW the first Asian-born spaceman was Gherman Titov. The first Chinese-born spaceman was Bill Anders. And why don't you list the first Africa-born astronauts?

a reply to: The angel of light

There were two groups of 'guest', the second was flown in alphabetic order...

... but [chuckle] why should the Russians do it in English?

originally posted by: The angel of light

Cuba is after Vietnam, so i am wondering where did you learn mathematics or were alphabetized ?

ROTFLOL.....

Do the danged list in Russian, you dope.

originally posted by: The angel of light

Your assertion is wrong or false, it is not based on any actual facts, and reveal more ignorance than actual knowledge in the subject it is clear you are trying to attack or criticize for subjective reasons that do not look scientific at all and distort History of Aerospace technology.

ROTFLOL.....

That's rich.