By S. Clayton Moore

During Shades of Blue’s firstannual awards dinner, studentmembers of the organization, hail-ing from high schools throughoutthe Front Range, were able to wit-ness the presentation of awards toheroes of the aviation and spaceindustries, and to hear the enthusi-astic stories of the honorees, aswell as others.

Conceived by Willie Daniels, aUnited Airlines pilot, and col-leagues in the aerospace industry,Shades of Blue is a newly formedColorado-based nonprofit organiza-tion whose mission is to provideguidance, training, educationalassistance and career services toyoung people wishing to pursuecareers in aviation and aerospace.The organization presented theirawards on March 29, at theInverness Hotel in Englewood.

Ed Dwight Jr., the first blackastronaut trainee, and one of thecountry’s preeminent sculptors,created the Shades of Blue/EdDwight Jr. awards, presented to Dr.Charles F. Bolden Jr., Dr. GaryCoulter, Dr. Fred Gregory and Dr.Guion S. “Guy” Bluford Jr.

Only one honoree was able toattend the event. Coulter, a retiredAir Force officer, was a programmanager for NASA and a

researcher at Colorado StateUniversity. He now heads theChallenger Learning Center inColorado Springs, one of 46Challenger Learning Centers in theU.S., Canada, and the UnitedKingdom. His approach toward thenext generation is apparent in hisoften-quoted statement, “I believethe first human on Mars is aliveand well in a Colorado elementaryschool today.”

Coulter was visibly moved to beincluded among the group, whichincluded not only astronauts butalso Tuskegee Airmen John Smithand Fitzroy “Buck” Newsum.

“Hero is not a term I use lightly,”Coulter said. “I reserve it only forpeople who have demonstratedundaunted courage, exceptionalskill and an unwavering commit-ment to an important and honorablecause—in this case making theUnited States a great space-faringnation.

“Great nations dare to explore,and that exploration requires thatinspired and talented people takegreat risk. They face great dangers,overcome seemingly insurmount-able obstacles, and sometimes evengive their lives for a cause in whichthey believe, with every fiber oftheir being. It is only because ofthe perseverance of men andwomen with keen minds and greathearts such as these that our under-standing of planet Earth, space, andworlds beyond Earth has been fur-thered. I fervently pray that ournation will continue to inspire peo-ple to pursue what PresidentKennedy called, ‘the most danger-ous and exciting mission uponwhich mankind has ever embarked:the exploration of space.’”

Bolden, the fourth black astro-naut, is presently a brigadier gener-al with the U.S. Marine Corps, andassistant wing commander for the3rd Marine Air Wing at Miramar,Calif. Although unable to attend,

he wrote to express his apprecia-tion, for the award and to congratu-late Shades of Blue for their greatstrides in “the education of themost cherished assets of ournation—our youth.”

“At a time of great tension andstrife in our nation, Shades of Bluehas risen to the challenge of identi-fying programs to emphasize theimportance of education in thefields of engineering and science,”he wrote.

Bluford was honored as the firstAfrican-American to go into spaceonboard the inaugural flight of thespace shuttle Challenger in 1983.Ironically, he missed his flightfrom Cleveland to appear at theawards, but participated via tele-phone. Besides expressing thanksfor his award, Bluford thankedShades of Blue for recognizing theothers.

“I hope that in years to come, allof us, including Ed Dwight and theother black astronauts, will serve asrole models for the youth you areencouraging,” he said. “I’ve beenin the business for almost 38 years,and it’s been an exciting experi-ence.”

Daniels later personally deliveredthe award to his home. Dr. FredGregory, the first black shuttlecommander and deputy administra-tor of NASA, was also unable toattend.

The award’s sculptor was hon-ored with a plaque featuring theApollo 11 moon landing of June20, 1969. While Dwight wasselected by President John F.Kennedy as the first black astro-naut trainee, and was instrumentalin the process that ultimatelyallowed Neil Armstrong to set footon the moon, he was unable to gointo space himself, after facingsevere discrimination and threatsfollowing Kennedy’s death in1963.

Today, he uses his engineeringskills to create innovative andevocative sculptures that honor

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American Heroes Honored by Shades of Blue

Shades of Blue cont. on page 20

L to R: President Willie Daniels, Ed Dwight Jr. and Dr. Gary Coulter show off their awards atthe 1st annual Shades of Blue awards.

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20 Centennial Journal May 2003

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African-American achievements inmany fields. He is currently writinghis memoirs and negotiating withHollywood studios in regard to afilm about his life.

“In 1963, when the space pro-gram forgot who you were, we did-n’t. Ed Dwight stands as a giant inour hearts and minds. Ed’s dreamwas to go to the moon and he waspart of making that happen, but hisdream did not come true,” Danielssaid with emotion. “Ed, in ourhearts, you went to the moon.”

Dwight acknowledged his ownhazardous past, and recounted hisearly interest in aviation.

“You kids in the audience arelucky as hell that we have WillieDaniels and the Challenger pro-gram to allow the spread of thisknowledge to get out. You haverole models like you wouldn’tbelieve. I didn’t have those rolemodels. At almost every base I wasstationed on, I was the only blackofficer, and it was bizarre. I didn’tknow there were any brothers inthe service but me. It sounds crazy,but it’s true,” Dwight laughed.

Dwight commented that heenjoyed hearing the stories of oth-ers, saying he thought it was fasci-nating “how these things work.”

“I’ve always been curious abouthow black folks became involvedin aviation,” he said. “In my case,

they said I was 10 years before mytime, but the forces of darkness hadtheir way with me. It turned outthat I was 22 years ahead, becauseGuy Bluford went up almost 22years to the day after I entered theprogram.”

For his efforts, Coulter presentedDaniels with a scale model of theP-51B Mustang, flown byTuskegee Airman Lee A. Archer ofthe 332nd Fighter Group.

Although many of the honoreeswere African-Americans, Shades ofBlue brings together an incrediblediversity in its board members, stu-dent participants and the areas towhich it brings its resources.

“We aren’t a minorityorganization. We’reAmericans,” said Daniels.“The thing that we have tofocus on is our youth; that’sour direction.”

Two years ago, Daniels anda core team of professionalsfrom the field of aviation,aerospace, business and edu-cation came together with avision.

“What we wanted to do wasbring government, education,parents, students and theaerospace industry togetherunder one roof,” Danielsexplained. “In the next fiveyears, we’re going to loseabout 50 percent of the work-force in the aerospace indus-try due to mandatory retire-

ment. This is an effort to start get-ting awareness out, to put the focusback on the kids and provideresources to teachers that willallow them to integrate aviationand aerospace in the day-to-dayenvironment of the classroom.”

Members of Shades of Blue havebeen traveling south to ColoradoSprings, through Denver, north toFort Collins and even west toCalifornia to bring their messagedirectly into the classroom.Daniels, who flies the Boeing 747-400 for United, takes much of hisown time to participate in class-room activities and other events.

“We teach the kids how to have aflight plan for life,” Daniels said.“Once you have one, between Aand B, you know where you areand where you want to go; thatbecomes your course. Then youcan allow checks and balances tobe set up along your path.

“Occasionally, when I’m flying aroute from Los Angeles to HongKong, we have to deviate aroundthe weather, and then what do wedo? We remember where our desti-nation is, and take action to getback on course and continue to thedestination. That’s the messagewe’re teaching kids. Everybody hashurdles in their life, but onceyou’ve gotten past those, you haveto remember what your goals are,get back on that flight and contin-ue. Whether you’re going to be adoctor, a lawyer, a scientist, a pilot,an astronaut or a flight attendant,you have to get out there.”

Last August, Daniels and hiscohorts took a few dozen studentsout to Front Range Airport andgave each one a half-hour of sticktime with a flight instructor. ByDecember, eight of those studentshad soloed.

“These kids are bright, intelligentstudents; they are taking advantageof opportunities that they mightnever have been exposed to other-wise,” Daniels said.”

Shades of Blue cont. from page 18

Dr. Guion “Guy” Bluford graciously accepts the Shadesof Blue honor from President Willie Daniels, who flew

to Cleveland to deliver the award in person.

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Shades of Blue cont. on page 20

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During his remarks, Trip Carter,Colorado’s first aerospace advo-cate, representing Governor BillOwens and Lt. Gov. Jane Norton,noted the desperate need for newblood in the aviation industry.

“There really is no one space pro-gram anymore; aviation and spaceare all over the map today,” hesaid. “Yet, we as an industry do apoor job of communicating a visionand a focus for the aerospace com-munity. Forty years ago, it waseasy. We said we were going to goto the moon, and no one questionedthat idea; everyone stood behind it.Unfortunately, we didn’t stay there.The program got very diversified

and now space applications areeverywhere.”

Carter said the average age of anengineer in the aerospace industryis 52.

“That should scare everybody inthis room, because that tells usthere are not enough kids comingthrough the pipeline today to fuelour industry,” he said. “There aremany applications that we need tocommunicate to the next genera-tion; it’s important that organiza-tions like Willie’s are out therecommunicating that advancedvision of space.”

For information about Shades ofBlue, call (303) 805-2504 or visit

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Shades of Blue cont. from page 20

Cliff, a student member of Shades of Blue, brought his father to the event.

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By Jeff Price

It’s a military proverb; controllingthe high ground means controllingthe battle. Having that controlmeans being able to see the entirebattlefield and gain better situationalawareness, as well as being in a bet-ter position to fend off an attacker.In the battle for our homeland, spaceis the ultimate high ground.

How can space help us protect ournation? That was the question at the19th National Space Symposium,held this year in Colorado Springs,April 7-10, attended by industryleaders, military and governmentofficials, and general space enthusi-asts.

The symposium focused on a vari-ety of topics including government-business relationships in spacedevelopment, space policy and law,aerospace career opportunities, nextgeneration job skills, and muchmore. The heavy hitters were allthere—including Boeing, Ball,BAE, Iridium, Northrop Grumman,Kodak and Inmarsat. All the mili-tary services were represented,including the U.S. Coast Guard, thelead agency in the new Departmentof Homeland Security.

The attendees and guest speakersroster reads like a who’s who inspace lore, including NASAAdministrator Sean O’Keafe; Dr.Buzz Aldrin Jr., Edward “Pete”Aldridge Jr., and Richard H. Truly,retired Navy vice admiral and for-mer shuttle astronaut.

The importance of the new home-land defense and homeland securityrole is apparent by the creation ofNorthern Command, or NORTH-COM, located in Colorado Springsand a central point of discussion.NORTHCOM was created to fulfilltwo primary missions, defend thehomeland and support civil authori-ties.

At this conference, homelanddefense was usually talked about as“homeland defense and homelandsecurity.” The distinction betweenthe two is defined by NORTHCOM.Essentially, homeland defense is theprevention and defense againstattacks on the U.S., while homelandsecurity is a combined military-civilian effort. The Posse ComitatusAct prohibits military units frombeing involved in law enforcementactivities, thus restricting NORTH-COM to the homeland defense andcivil authority support role. The sole

Homeland Security’sHigh Ground