Ellison Onizuka Monument

The Ellison Onizuka Monument was created to honor the first Asian American into space, Ellison Onizuka. The monument is located on Onizuka Street in Little Tokyo. It's a model of the space shuttle challenger that was destroyed during a mission in January 1989.

Despite being of Japanese descent, Onizuka was actually born and grew up in Hawaii. He had an air force career and received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before joining NASA.

He was one of seven crew member killed in the Challenger disaster that resulted from a leaking rocket booster that ended in a fuel tank exploding.

Onizuka is buried in Honolulu, Hawaii.