A weekend of events celebrating the grand reopening of the Lucile H. Bluford Branch begins with a presentation at the Central Library by Guion Bluford, the nephew of civil rights pioneer Lucile Bluford, about his experiences as America's first black astronaut in space.

A veteran of four space missions, Bluford is an engineer and a colonel (retired) in the United States Air Force. His first mission in space was in 1983 as a member of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger.