When astronaut Victor Glover climbed aboard the International Space Station early Tuesday morning, he became the first Black astronaut arriving for a long-term stay.
Glover, along with his fellow SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule crewmates, will stay on the ISS for six months.
A handful of Black astronauts have visited the orbiting lab during space shuttle missions, their stays were a few weeks. More than 300 astronauts from NASA have reached space to date, and Glover is the 15th Black astronaut to do so, according to the New York Times.
Glover was selected as an astronaut in 2013, at the time he was serving as a Legislative Fellow in the United States Senate, according to NASA.
He is now the pilot and second-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, named Resilience. While onboard the ISS, he will serve as the Flight Engineer.
