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.

