Charles F. "Charlie" Bolden, Jr., was born on 19 August 1946 in Columbia, South Carolina, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Science in 1968. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, he received his "Wings of Gold" in May 1970 as an A-6A Intruder pilot. From June 1972 to June 1973, he flew more than 100 combat missions into North and South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos with Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533. Following two years as a recruiting officer in Los Angeles and various assignments at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California, Bolden graduated from the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in June 1979. He spent the next year as an ordnance test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland, flying numerous projects in the A-6E Intruder, EA-6B Prowler and A-7C/E Corsair II. Selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in May 1980, he qualified as a space shuttle pilot in August 1981, becoming the first black Marine astronaut.
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