Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (born January 29, 1942) was the first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into earth orbit. He was also the first Hispanic and first Black person in space. Tamayo, along with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, was launched into space aboard Soyuz 38 from Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 18, 1980, at 19:11 UTC. Read more