Talk:Ed Dwight

spacefacts not a reliable site

I don't think things like this should be used as references. Typo's like this "Germany had not an own space program", and the fact they tell people to email them information, and don't have complete information about people they could easily look up themselves if they wanted too, seems rather amateur. Dream Focus 00:12, 26 July 2016 (UTC)

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Mistake

In the Bio section, it says ... " "placed eighth as a contender for Nasa's Astronaut Group 3 in October 1963," but "[o]nly the first seven" on this list "were selected," becoming the famed Mercury Seven." The Mercury 7 were announced in 1958, and Group 3 had way more than 7 men in it, so the entire sentence is suspicious. 2601:380:8102:ADB0:757B:A43A:E05F:6417 (talk) 19:10, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

You're right, the dates don't match up, although it's a direct quote from the BBC source. A 1984 source (article in Ebony) says he was supposed to be part of group 2, but that after Kennedy's assassination, new president LBJ wanted Robert Lawrence instead.

The book We Could Not Fail says "Dwight graduated eighth in his class of sixteen from phase 2 of the ARPS and was one of twenty-six astronaut applicants recommended by the air force to NASA. In 1965, NASA selected 14 of an initial 136 applicants for further training, two from Dwight's phase 2 class--but not Dwight." Chasing the Moon has a lot of content on Dwight and NASA, but I can't access all of it on googlebooks. One interesting bit:

While in the desert, Slayton was unexpectedly summoned to take an important phone call from Washington. When he returned he told the new Gemini astronauts that the call was from Robert Kennedy, who had requested that NASA accept Ed Dwight as part of the third group of astronauts. "I just spoke for all you guys", Slayton told them as a group under the Nevada sky. "I said if we had to take him and he wasn't qualified, then they'd have to find sixteen other people, because all of us would leave."

Schazjmd (talk) 19:52, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

Correction

In the biography section it describes him as a "test pilot, astronaut and sculptor". Ed Dwight was never selected as an astronaut by NASA. Under United States Federal Aviation Administration rules, traveling past the boundary of space on a Blue Origin suborbital flight does NOT qualify a passenger as an official commercial astronaut, because the flights are fully automated and riders do not perform active duties essential for flight safety. ~2026-41549-13 (talk) 23:55, 24 July 2026 (UTC)