Lincoln University is paying tribute to the sculptor of Lincoln’s Soldiers’ Memorial – and the oldest person to travel to space – Ed Dwight.
Last spring, the 90-year-old Dwight became the oldest person ever to journey into space. Before he was a sculptor, Dwight was an Air Force pilot who was nominated as a candidate for NASA’s early astronaut corps in 1961, but he was not selected for the 1963 class, which included astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.
NASA did not select Black astronauts until 1978, and in 1983, Guion Bluford became the first African American in space.
Dwight was commissioned by Lincoln University in 2005 to create the Soldiers’ Memorial Plaza, which was completed by 2007. Standing at 18 feet tall, the sculpture captures the transformation of soldiers from the 62nd and 65th regiments into students.