Onizuka ellison biography samples

American astronaut Ellison Onizuka (1946–1986) was one of the seven crew members who died in the 1986 explosion of theChallengerspace shuttle. The first American of Asian heritage to reach space, Onizuka had harbored a desire to become an astronaut since his childhood.

"He encouraged the freedom to dream," his wife Lorna toldPeople,"and the commitment to making those dreams come true."

Grandson of Japanese Immigrants

Onizuka was born on June 24, 1946, in Kealakekua, on the Kona coast of Hawaii's main island.

His grandparents had come to Hawaii from Japan in the early 1900s to work as indentured laborers on the island's sugar plantations.

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Onizuka was the third of four children born to his mother Mitsue, who ran a small store in Keopu, and his father Masimutu. Keopu was a coffee–growing area, and Onizuka earned extra money for the household as a child by picking coffee beans.

Onizuka was fascinated by space flight from an early age.

The year he tu