Volume XI, Number 4 • Fall 1999

NASA Explorers

Living on the Ocean Floor:
The Adventures of NASA’s First Aquanaut
based on the reminiscences of Charles Chiharu Kubokawa

Ellison Onizuka: the First Nikkei Astronaut
by Kenji Murase, PhD

Dan Tani: NASA’s Newest Japanese American Astronaut
by Shizue Seigel

NJAHS News
July 24 Annual Meeting: Mitch Maki and Harry Kitano

Welcome New Board Members

New Members and Donations

Upcoming NJAHS programs

An Unexpected Adventure
by Susan Kitazawa, 1998 NJAHS Raffle Winner

Astronaut Ellison Onizuka once told a group of high school graduates, “Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds... to look from a higher plateau than the last generation.... Many things which you take for granted were considered unrealistic dreams by previous generations.”

The Issei’s new world was literal – they established a new life in a new land. For many Nisei, the new world meant a good education and a worthy career. Although we now take such possibilities for granted, before World War II all too many Nisei found that even a Stanford honors degree didn’t lead to their career of choice. Later the war reduced the lives of most mainland Nikkei to two suitcases and a desert internment camp. Yet the search for higher plateaus has continued.

In this issue, we explore the progression of Nikkei dreams and possibilities through three NASA explorers: Nisei Charles Kubokawa, NASA’s first aquanaut, and from the Sansei generation: Ellison Onizuka, the first Nikkei astronaut, and Dan Tani, the newest Japanese American astronaut.

To the footsoldiers mired in the segregated battalions of 1943, the combat pilots flying overhead may have seemed like an unattainable dream, but by 1957, Charles “Chuck” Kubokawa was flying for the Air Force. In 1970, he became NASA’s first aquanaut. Through his sojourn deep under the ocean he contributed to the knowledge which enabled U.S. astronauts to reach high into space.

One beneficiary was Ellison Onizuka. When he stepped aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1985, he thrilled the hearts of thousands of Nikkei. He showed us that it was indeed possible for Japanese Americans to fly high. Risk accompanies reach, however, and his career was tragically cut short just two years later by the fiery explosion of the Challenger. The enduring legacy of Onizuka and his multi-cultural crewmates is the knowledge that boys and girls of every ethnicity can dream the most extravagant of American dreams and hope to attain them.

Although astronaut Dan Tani has yet to be assigned a mission, he is in the midst of a family journey which includes his parents’ incarceration at Tanforan and Topaz and which may well lead into space.

Although these Nikkei reached particularly dramatic plateaus, they are representative of thousands of others in less visible fields – in the sciences, education, social work, the arts – who continue to seek higher ground with the same adventuresome and persistent courage that the Issei first brought to America.

Shizue Seigel
Managing Editor

The Issei’s new world was literal – they established a new life in a new land. For many Nisei, the new world meant a good education and a worthy career. Although we now take such possibilities for granted, before World War II all too many Nisei found that even a Stanford honors degree didn’t lead to their career of choice. Later the war reduced the lives of most mainland Nikkei to two suitcases and a desert internment camp. Yet the search for higher plateaus has continued.

In this issue, we explore the progression of Nikkei dreams and possibilities through three NASA explorers: Nisei Charles Kubokawa, NASA’s first aquanaut, and from the Sansei generation: Ellison Onizuka, the first Nikkei astronaut, and Dan Tani, the newest Japanese American astronaut.

To the footsoldiers mired in the segregated battalions of 1943, the combat pilots flying overhead may have seemed like an unattainable dream, but by 1957, Charles “Chuck” Kubokawa was flying for the Air Force. In 1970, he became NASA’s first aquanaut. Through his sojourn deep under the ocean he contributed to the knowledge which enabled U.S. astronauts to reach high into space.

One beneficiary was Ellison Onizuka. When he stepped aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1985, he thrilled the hearts of thousands of Nikkei. He showed us that it was indeed possible for Japanese Americans to fly high. Risk accompanies reach, however, and his career was tragically cut short just two years later by the fiery explosion of the Challenger. The enduring legacy of Onizuka and his multi-cultural crewmates is the knowledge that boys and girls of every ethnicity can dream the most extravagant of American dreams and hope to attain them.

Although astronaut Dan Tani has yet to be assigned a mission, he is in the midst of a family journey which includes his parents’ incarceration at Tanforan and Topaz and which may well lead into space.

Although these Nikkei reached particularly dramatic plateaus, they are representative of thousands of others in less visible fields – in the sciences, education, social work, the arts – who continue to seek higher ground with the same adventuresome and persistent courage that the Issei first brought to America.

Shizue Seigel
Managing Editor