Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez

Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez is a Cuban Air Force pilot who became the first person of African descent to fly in space and the first Cuban citizen to do so, launching aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in September 1980 as part of the Interkosmos program to the Salyut 6 space station. He spent about eight days in orbit conducting joint Soviet-Cuban scientific experiments, and his flight remains a significant point of national pride in Cuba.