{"id":518474,"date":"2026-04-07T23:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/518474\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:18:07","slug":"meet-the-first-ghanaian-to-fly-a-nasa-spacecraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/518474\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the first Ghanaian to fly a NASA spacecraft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/NewsArchive\/Meet-the-first-Ghanaian-to-fly-a-NASA-spacecraft-2029140?gallery=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/77311968.295.jpg\" alt=\"Ave Kludze Jr is a Ghanaian aerospace engineer\" title=\"Ave Kludze Jr is a Ghanaian aerospace engineer\" width=\"295\" height=\"221\" \/> <\/a>Ave Kludze Jr is a Ghanaian aerospace engineer<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-123\">Ave Kludze Jr is among the Ghanaian professionals making a mark globally, contributing to major NASA space missions and advancing aerospace engineering.<\/p>\n<p>He has made major contributions to complex systems engineering and spacecraft operations at NASA.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, he serves as a senior spacecraft systems engineer and has worked at major NASA centres, including the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia and the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.<\/p>\n<p>At Goddard, he made history as the first Black African from Ghana to command and control spacecraft in orbit from a mission control centre, working on missions such as the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).<\/p>\n<p>Kludze also designed the Human Locator System, known as \u2018Hulos\u2019, and has made significant contributions across aeronautics, nanotechnology, engineering, and space exploration.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Hohoe, he developed an early interest in science and understanding how things work.<\/p>\n<p>Meet the Ghanaian scientist who built InSight, NASA&#8217;s latest spacecraft to land on Mars<\/p>\n<p>Although he was unable to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a pilot due to eyesight limitations, he went on to achieve remarkable success in spacecraft development and operations.<\/p>\n<p>He began his education at Adisadel College in Cape Coast and later attended Swedru Secondary School for his A-levels.<\/p>\n<p>In the late 1980s, he emigrated to the United States, where he enrolled at Rutgers University to pursue a bachelor\u2019s degree in electrical engineering.<\/p>\n<p>He later earned a master\u2019s degree in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD in systems engineering from George Washington University.<\/p>\n<p>His accomplishments not only elevate Ghana&#8217;s global reputation but also inspire future generations to reach for the stars, proving that, with determination and hard work, dreams can materialise.<\/p>\n<p>Kludze&#8217;s story is a powerful reminder of the heights that can be achieved through dedication, innovation, and resilience.<\/p>\n<p>His contributions to aerospace engineering not only advance global technological progress but also put a spotlight on the immense potential of Ghanaians to excel on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>MRA\/BAI<\/p>\n<p>Man allegedly burns wife\u2019s house for cheating with UK \u2018borga\u2019<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ave Kludze Jr is a Ghanaian aerospace engineer Ave Kludze Jr is among the Ghanaian professionals making a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59,90,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-518474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}