1/17/2024 0 Comments First black astronautUltimately, he was not chosen and left the Air Force to become a celebrated sculptor. Air Force test pilot Edward Dwight became the first African American to graduate from the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California and become eligible for selection by NASA as an astronaut. Air Force test pilot who was the first African American to be eligible to become a NASA astronaut.Īt the urging of the Kennedy administration, which saw the political benefits of a diversified astronaut corps, Dwight was assigned to the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where, in 1962, the press labeled him the country's "first black astronaut." The film opens with the story of Edward Dwight, a U.S. The hour-long documentary features archival footage and new interviews with the NASA and Interkosmos crewmembers whose trailblazing experiences first brought diversity into orbit. ![]() "So you think, 'Oh, that's interesting, all of those things are happening right at once,' and then hopefully take you on a ride through all of the firsts, when we finally get the first African American astronauts making history." "I wanted to set the clock and the tone of the film right there," she said. And so they intentionally made mention in their press that Sputnik was happening at the same time that the United States was going through Little Rock - sort of a thumb in the eye, if you will," said Grant. "With the 'Little Rock Nine' trying to go to high school - just black kids trying to go to an all-white school - all of the vitriol and blowback happened at the same time that the Russians blasted off with Sputnik. That day, nine African American students were blocked by soldiers from entering the school on the order of the state's governor, who was opposed to desegregation. 4, 1957, exactly one month to the day after classes were set to begin at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. ![]() The Space Age began with the launch of the world's first satellite on Oct. 4, 2020, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston. Ed Dwight and Cheryl McNair, widow of Challenger STS-51L astronaut Ron McNair, at the premiere of the Smithsonian Channel documentary "Black in Space: Breaking the Color Barrier" on Feb. KHOU anchor Mia Gradney, National Air and Space Museum curator Cathleen Lewis, director and producer Laurens Grant, U.S.
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