ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ·

The University of Colorado Board of Regents voted unanimously to rename the Williams Village East residence hall the Onizuka Hall to honor ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ· graduate and astronaut Ellison Shoji Onizuka, who perished in the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger—the latest in a long list honors.Ìý

Ìý

Onizuka attended ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ· as an undergraduate (bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering, June 1969) and graduate student (master's degree in aerospace engineering, December 1969) and received his commission as a U.S. Air Force second lieutenant through ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ·'s U.S. Air Force ROTC program. He entered active duty in 1970.Ìý

"Ellison Onizuka exemplified many of the qualities that Buffs hold dear: tenacity, compassion, valor," said Chancellor Justin Schwartz. "It's fitting that we remember and honor his achievements with the renaming of ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Ʒ’s largest residence hall."

He served as an aerospace flight test engineer at McClellan Air Force Base and at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s western Mojave Desert, and was selected as an astronaut candidate in January 1978 from among 8,000 applicants.Ìý

Onizuka's first NASA flight was on the space shuttle Discovery, and he became the first Asian American, the first person of Japanese ancestry, and the first Hawaiian to explore space. On board the Discovery, he was a mission specialist responsible for primary payload activities.Ìý

From Jan. 24 to Jan. 27, 1985, Discovery completed 48 orbits of Earth, for a total of 74 hours in space. Onizuka carried CU memorabilia with him on this mission: a CU flag and football.

After the completion of the Discovery mission, Onizuka was selected to be a member of the Challenger mission. On Jan. 28, 1986, the Challenger exploded shortly after launch, killing Onizuka and six other astronauts on board.

Among the wreckage recovered from the sea was the CU football Onizuka had brought on the mission and which his family donated to ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Æ· shortly after the opening of the CU Heritage Center in Old Main in 1986.

The university has also honored Onizuka in other ways:Ìý

• Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial:Ìý A memorial plaque honoring Onizuka and his fellow astronauts from the Challenger disaster is located in front of the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
• An annual ceremony for Onizuka and other fallen astronauts: Organized by the Air Force ROTC and Arnold Air Society, the ceremony honors the memory of Onizuka and Kalpana Chawla (Columbia disaster) and the other astronauts who perished in space shuttle tragedies. The ceremony culminates at the Ellison S. Onizuka Memorial at ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú´«Ã½ÎÄ»¯×÷Ʒ’s Engineering Center and the Challenger/Columbia Memorial located near Fiske Planetarium, where a rose is placed for each fallen astronaut.
• The campus's Arnold Air Society Squadron is named after him.
• A conference room on the third floor of the Ann & H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences building is named after Onizuka.