The Onizuka Prop Wash Award was named in memory of irst Asian American and the first person of Japanese ancestry to what?
Ellison Onizuka Ellison Shoji Onizuka (June 24, 1946 – January 28, 1986 ) was an American astronaut from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle "Discovery" on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle "Challenger", on which he was serving as Mission Specialist for mission STS-51-L. He was the first Asian American and the first person of Japanese ancestry to reach space.
Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The term refers to a panethnic group that includes diverse populations, which have ancestral origins in East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. This includes people who indicate their race(s) on the census as "Asian" or reported entries such as "Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Other Asian." Asian Americans with no other ancestry comprise 4.8% of the U.S. population, while people who are Asian alone or combined with at least one other race make up 5.6%.