Astronaut Ellison Onizuka, Son of Kona Coffee Farmers - Hometown Boy Makes Kona Coffee Country Proud As First Asian American In Space, Onizuka Comes From Kona Coffee Farm Roots

“Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds…to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.”

Ellison S. Onizuka

As the first astronaut of Japanese-American descent and the first Asian American to visit outer space, astronaut Ellison Shoji Onizuka is the pride and joy of Kealakekua in Kona Coffee Country. Onizuka was serving as a Mission Specialist for NASA when he tragically lost his life in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. He had earlier flown on the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Ellison’s parents were Mitsue and Masamitsu Onizuka and he had a younger brother Claude as well as two older sisters named Norma and Shirley. As a child Ellison was very involved in extra-curricular activities including the Boy Scouts and 4-H. He earned the designation of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.

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After graduating from high school in Kealakekua at Konawaena High School in 1964, Ellison attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in June of 1969. Later that year he also earned his Master’s Degree in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado.

In 1969 Ellison married Lorna Leiko Yoshida and they had two daughters, Dariene Lei Shizue Onizuka-Morgan and Janelle Onizuka-Gillilan.

In 1970 Onizuka began serving as a test pilot and flight test engineer in the US Air Force. He then attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and was subsequently assigned to the Edwards Air Force Base U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in California.

At the Test Pilot School Onizuka became a squadron test flight engineer and later served in the training resources division as a manager for engineering support. In 1978 Onizuka was selected for NASA’s astronaut program and spent the next year in evaluation and training followed by work on the Orbiter test team and on the launch support crew at the Kennedy Space Center as well as other projects.

Onizuka first went into space in 1985 on the Space Shuttle Discovery which was the first Space Shuttle mission. He assumed responsibility of the Shuttle’s primary payloads as the Shuttle made 48 orbits of the Earth totaling 74 hours in space.

On January 28, 1986 Onizuka took off from the Kennedy Space Center on the Space Shuttle Challenger along with commander Dick Scobee, mission specialists Judith Resnik and Ronald McNair, payload specialists Christa McAuliffe and Gregory Jarvis, and pilot Michael J. Smith.

Seventy-three seconds after the Challenger launched the fuel tank ruptured and destroyed the craft killing all seven aboard. Ellison Onizuka, a Lieutenant Colonel, was buried in Honolulu at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific having been promoted posthumously to the rank of Colonel and a Congressional Space Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart medal.

During his life Ellison also earned numerous other distinctions including the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal.

Ellison Onizuka is honored at the Kona International Airport with the Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center. Named after Onizuka is a crater on the moon, an asteroid, and a street in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles (where there is a scale replica of the Challenger) as well as a street near Whitcomb Elementary in Texas, the school his daughters were attending at the time of the Challenger disaster.

Also named in honor of Ellison Onizuka is the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy just below the summit of Mauna Kea volcano. Three episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation feature a shuttlecraft aboard the Starship Enterprise bearing Onizuka’s name.

Numerous other accolades and honors have been bestowed in memory of this fine young man from Kealakekua in Kona Coffee Country. Ellison Onizuka is the pride of Kona as well as aspiring Asian American astronomers and all of the people of the United States who look up to Onizuka for his honor, integrity, bravery, and commitment to every mission he was tasked with completing.

If you want to visit the land of Ellison Onizuka’s childhood you can take a tour along the route known as the Kona Heritage Corridor. Journeying south on the Mamalahoa Highway (Hwy. 180) along the slopes of Hualalai Volcano, not far from Mile Marker 7 you will pass the M. Onizuka Store which was also the childhood home of Ellison Onizuka.

The M. Onizuka Store was founded by Masamitsu Onizuka in 1933 when he began selling general merchandise. Onizuka even provided a one-man taxi service to transport the customers and their purchases back to their homes.

After Masamitsu Onizuka passed away his wife Mitsue Nagata Onizuka ran the Onizuka Store. Mitsue worked at the store until the very day she passed away in 1990. Now posted on the residence of Ellison Onizuka’s home is “May Peace On Earth Prevail.”

To read about more Kona Coffee Farms see Kona Coffee Farms, Tours, and Coffeehouses.

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