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[reporter] America blasts off

into a new age of space exploration.

2020 is a year of really high highs

and really low lows and an inflection point

as it comes to where the direction

of the world is going.

[Hakeem] Many people have pointed out

the similarities between the current era

with this new space race, and civil unrest around race.

with this new space race, and civil unrest around race.

And it's very similar to the 1960s.

If we can spend billions of dollars to put a man on the Moon,

we can spend billions of dollars

to put God's children on their own two feet.

The Apollo 8 crew orbited the Moon in 1968, a violent,

bloody, traumatic year.

[newscaster] Dr. Martin Luther King has been shot to death.

I am for law and order.

I am your president of law and order.

The police killed more people in 2020

than every single year

than every single year

we have on record except for one.

That could be you.

That could be me.

And now these space billionaires

are blasting off to space.

Think of what that money could do on Earth.

We have these soaring achievements

where we want to go into outer space

and we can't take care of business right here on this planet.

That's a very disturbing state of affairs.

[protesters] I can't breathe!

[theme music playing]

[pensive music playing]

I often talk about 2020 as a moment

I often talk about 2020 as a moment

when the world cracked wide open.

[protesters] We want justice!

The year 2020 has definitely been one of the most

dramatic years of our lifetimes.

We had a global pandemic.

There was crazy police violence.

[man speaking]

[Hakeem] And a lot of unrest in the streets.

[officer] Keep your [bleep] hands on the wheel.

[man] Yes, sir.

On May 25th, white police officer, Derek Chauvin,

kneeled on the neck of a Black man, George Floyd,

as he begged for his life.

[George panting]

[George panting]

[officer] What do you want?

[George] I can't breathe.

George Floyd told officers more than 20 times,

"I can't breathe."

I loved my brother.

Everybody loved my brother.

They hurt me and they hurt my family.

I can't get my brother back.

The murder of George Floyd caused us to contemplate

what racial justice looks like

in this country and in this world.

[protesters] We demand justice!

[protesters] We demand justice!

We demand justice!

[newsreader] Demonstrations in dozens of cities demands for change,

not just in the name of Floyd, but for African-Americans,

saying they have long been victimized

by systematic racism in America.

What I think we saw is people step up and say

we don't want to live in a world

that steals the lives of people

like Ahmaud Arbery, steals the lives of people like Breonna Taylor,

steals the lives of people like George Floyd and so many other names.

steals the lives of people like George Floyd and so many other names.

[newsreader 1] Tamir Rice.

[newsreader 2] Philando Castile.

-[newsreader 3] Eric Garner. -[newsreader 4] Walter Scott.

[newsreader 5] Michael Brown.

-[newsreader 6] Freddie Gray. -[newsreader 7] Trayvon Martin.

[narrator] How can our nation achieve

amazing technological advancements while also failing

at the most basic essentials of society?

We ain't playing.

This system of policing has got to go.

[narrator] As America grappled with its lowest point in recent memory,

a history-making partnership between NASA and SpaceX was underway.

a history-making partnership between NASA and SpaceX was underway.

American astronauts were about to go to space

from US soil for the first time

since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, nearly a decade earlier.

[announcer] The final liftoff of Atlantis.

[woman] Today with our partners at SpaceX,

we usher in the commercial crew era

of American space flight.

[narrator] The stakes were high as the mission

set the stage for the exploration of the Moon,

Mars, and beyond.

Today we have special guest, retired astronaut, Leland Melvin.

Today we have special guest, retired astronaut, Leland Melvin.

I am like so excited.

I've got rocket fuel going through my veins.

I was there to do the commentary

with some other folks and it was just...

it was, it was electric and everyone was like, so excited.

And I'm thinking about what happened to George Floyd.

[narrator] It was just five days after George Floyd's

May 25th murder that NASA astronauts

prepared to take flight on a privately-owned spacecraft for the first time.

[reporter] NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

[reporter] NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.

We're doing the most technologically advanced thing

to send people off the planet,

but then we had George Floyd being choked to death, wanting his mother.

Today, as we gather in this special place to celebrate

our nation's bold and triumphant return to the stars,

I want to say a few words about the situation in Minnesota.

The death of George Floyd on the streets of Minneapolis

was a grave tragedy.

It has filled Americans all over the country

with horror, anger, and grief.

[protesters] We want justice!

-We want justice! -We want justice!

[woman] Now they are getting into the Tesla Model X.

[narrator] As the countdown to launch began,

people across the nation gathered to protest

the death of George Floyd.

the death of George Floyd.

[sirens wailing]

[horn honking]

[woman] You can see the suit techs are there to help them.

[officer] Stop the car!

[Donald] And I stand before you in firm opposition

to anyone exploiting this tragedy.

[announcer] Five, four...

...to loot, rob, attack and menace.

We're go for launch. Let's light this candle.

[announcer] Godspeed, Bob and Doug!

[narrator] As protesters squared off

with police across the nation,

social media lit up with commentary about the events.

[Ahmed] 1969 was when we hit the Moon.

Gil Scott-Heron had that song Whitey's on the Moon.

[Gil] I can't pay no doctor bills,

but whitey's is on the Moon.

but whitey's is on the Moon.

Which is talking about exactly

what we're talking about today.

[Gil] Ten years from now, I'll be paying still while whitey's on the Moon.

[Ahmed] There is this incredible urge and push to get out into space.

But by the same token, voting rights are being rolled back.

Civil rights are being rolled back.

Big issues in 1968.

In 2020, they came back to haunt us.

If we don't deal with it now,

who knows what it's going to look like in the future?

[man] You know, I just about had my fill of Whitey on the Moon.

[man] You know, I just about had my fill of Whitey on the Moon.

[narrator] The chaotic scenes seemed all too familiar.

We are so painfully not that different

today from where we were, uh,

in 1969 when Neil Armstrong,

Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins blasted off from Launch Complex 39A

at the Kennedy Space Center to go to the Moon.

[crowd cheering]

[Jeffrey] Space, I think, represents our most ambitious aspirations,

[Jeffrey] Space, I think, represents our most ambitious aspirations,

but when people on the planet

are struggling for basic fundamental rights,

the aspiration to get to space

suddenly starts to look indulgent.

[newscaster] Dr. Martin Luther King has been shot to death

in Memphis, Tennessee.

[Curtis] Somehow or another,

this nation needs the spilling of blood

in order for us to mobilize people

to get out in the streets, to do something about the,

to get out in the streets, to do something about the,

um, conditions that we are living under.

George called for his mama, and his mother passed,

but he was calling for his mother

'cause at the point that he was dying,

his mother was stretching her hands out, saying, "Come on, George."

[applause]

[Curtis] I thought about what was happening during those protests

and harkened back to the protests that I was involved in.

Freedom and equality are contagious ideas.

To some extent, the inequality of women

within the civil rights and other movements led to the women's movement.

The Black Lives Matter movements now

are carrying the banner forward from the '60s.

It is just as important as it ever was, if not more so.

Democracy is like a tree.

It does not grow from the top down.

It does not grow from the top down.

It grows from the bottom up.

[narrator] With social justice issues hanging in the balance,

can America reconcile its racial and societal divisions?

Will dreams of space exploration

and beyond be accessible for only a select few,

or will they be for all humankind?

[narrator] In 1959, NASA selected its first astronauts,

the Mercury Seven,

with the goal of beating the Russians to space.

So when NASA first announced the Mercury Seven astronauts

back in the late '50s, it brought them out before the press,

paraded them and the press fawned all over them,

called them square-jawed men, talked about their physiques.

And it was really this branding of the astronauts

as these robust physical specimens

that were also white and male.

that were also white and male.

So at the same time,

you had others that didn't quite fit into that mold,

like Ed Dwight, he was an African-American jet fighter pilot.

[narrator] At the time, NASA's culture of favored white men

and its strict requirements,

including test pilot experience,

made women ineligible.

But Captain Edward Dwight Jr, a hotshot pilot, fit the bill.

John Kennedy really wanted to have diversity in the astronaut program,

and so he directed the Air Force

and so he directed the Air Force

to find somebody who...

who was qualified that they could put into the space program.

I was a novelty because everywhere I went,

I was the only Black in the Air Force.

I took to flying just like a duck to water.

I managed to do well to what I did.

And then I was flying fighter airplanes

and I was working on my masters in nuclear engineering.

[chuckles]

Doing really, really well, and I was on fast track and it was just wonderful.

At the time, you had to be a test pilot

before you become an astronaut.

I sent my credentials in.

Four days later, I got a letter back,

sending me to Edwards Air Force Base

to go to the Experimental Test Pilot School,

to go down there and get interviewed by Chuck Yeager.

Unfortunately, Ed was caught into the politics of everything.

The test pilot school wasn't in on the deal.

The test pilot school wasn't in on the deal.

They didn't have any control of my coming in

and having Washington, DC appoint somebody that test pilot school

does not fit into that mold, because they're Superman.

And so therefore, if a Black guy can do it,

uh, then they're not Superman.

Ed Dwight kind of ran into a buzz saw

in the form of some of the hierarchy

at the Test Pilot School,

who just did not like the idea of...

of a Black coming from the Air Force

and going into NASA in the space program.

[Ed] Prior to my coming there,

Chuck Yeager called everybody in to say,

"You know that Washington is trying to cram the N-word

down our throats and we don't want him to graduate."

So it was hell in the very, very beginning.

And I had to fight that, you know, the best I could.

I was very, very hopeful, very, very confident.

I had been doing a good job.

I had been doing a good job.

And, you know, I kept my nose clean

because I was anticipating being selected.

[Deke] I'd like to introduce the new group of 14 astronauts

that we've been in the process of selecting

for about the last four months.

[Reporter] Was there a Negro boy in the last 30 or so

that you brought here, for consideration?

No, there was not.

[photographer] Hey, gentlemen, look over here, please.

[photographer] Hey, gentlemen, look over here, please.

That's it.

[narrator] In a stunning development, NASA did not select Dwight.

[reporter speaking]

No, I would rather not comment on that.

[narrator] It would take nearly 20 years

before the organization would select an astronaut class

that did not consist entirely of white men.

The people who decide who has talent,

who are we going to let in,

who are we going to give an opportunity.

People look for people that are similar to themselves.

That's what makes them comfortable.

That's what makes them comfortable.

Another example of discrimination

was Mary Wallace Funk, who goes by Wally.

And she was an incredibly accomplished pilot, taught other pilots.

She was actually one of 13 women

who, in the early 1960s,

actually underwent the same physical examinations as the Mercury Seven.

And she was also excluded from the Astronaut Corps because at the time,

while NASA didn't specifically exclude women,

to be an astronaut, you needed 1,500 hours of jet fighter training.

to be an astronaut, you needed 1,500 hours of jet fighter training.

And of course, women were not allowed in combat,

so women were not allowed to get that training.

So it was a sort of backdoor way

that NASA could keep women out of the Astronaut Corps.

NASA did miss its opportunities early on

to send women and African-Americans into space.

Russia sent the first woman into space, Valentina Tereshkova.

They sent the first nonwhite person into space,

a Black man from Cuba.

It took NASA a long time to follow suit.

It took NASA a long time to follow suit.

That is simply a stain that NASA has to carry.

[narrator] As the space race heated up,

NASA was not focused on diversifying the Astronaut Corps.

Its goal was on the ultimate prize, the Moon.

But why, some say, the Moon?

Why choose this as our goal?

[narrator] In a 1962 speech in Texas,

President John F. Kennedy set out America's ambitious goals

to beat its Soviet rivals.

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade

and do the other things, not because they are easy,

but because they are hard.

[narrator] American fervor for space reached untold heights

in the 1960s, with NASA's new directive

to get to the Moon at any cost.

to get to the Moon at any cost.

In 2020, that same excitement was rekindled

as NASA and SpaceX ushered in a new era in space travel.

...launching American astronauts

on American rockets from American soil.

[applause]

2020 really mirrors 1968 when you look at the balance between NASA activities

and space activities and a great deal of unrest

here on Earth occurring simultaneously.

[Roland] In the late 1960s,

America was so much more racist

and it was open.

It was visceral.

[narrator] The civil rights movement

confronted the nation's overt racism,

including segregated facilities,

police violence, and unrelenting racial hostilities.

There was violence, the use of fire hoses,

and dogs against peaceful protesters.

There was the draft for the Vietnam War,

There was the draft for the Vietnam War,

and a disproportionate number of Blacks were being drafted.

The Chicago Democratic Convention

was a great convergence of social justice movements,

opposition to Vietnam.

I was at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

So when you mentioned the '68 Convention,

you pull a scab off of me

because I have scars that include my first whiff of tear gas.

because I have scars that include my first whiff of tear gas.

[Harry] Unarmed against the police, the demonstrators,

in a nonviolent tradition, sat down.

I remember Senator Gene McCarthy

and I and Senator Ralph Yarborough

in about a fifth floor window of the Conrad Hilton.

And the riot that was created was not created by protesters,

it was created by the police.

[Harry] A l ater official exhaustive investigation

would call this a police riot.

[Curtis] After we closed the window,

the three of us sat in the room and cried

because what was happening to our nation was... was just shocking.

[protesters shouting]

[narrator] These now iconic and bloody images

were broadcast nationwide, and traumatized a generation.

Fifty years later, more sophisticated tools

took calls for social justice to new heights.

took calls for social justice to new heights.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

In our civil rights era of the '60s,

the disruptive technology was the news cameras

right there on the street.

Today, the disruptive technology is the cell phone.

When people see the injustice,

now they can speak out against it.

And I'm a true believer that were it not for cameras

in the civil rights era, things would have turned out differently.

[narrator] No other civil rights leader

captured the media's attention like the charismatic and beloved

captured the media's attention like the charismatic and beloved

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

[Dr. King] I have a dream.

[crowd cheering]

You know, if you asked me or any other Black person of my age,

Martin Luther King was...

uh, he was "the leader".

He was this young Black preacher.

He was bigger than life.

He was the person that we were willing

to follow, to try to get the rights that we felt we deserve.

[Curtis] None of us thought that

[Curtis] None of us thought that

he would be taken away from us.

That afternoon, the telephone rang

and it was a rabbi friend of mine.

He was in tears and he said,

"Turn the television on because they just killed Dr. King."

And I dropped the phone.

I was literally in shock.

I was crushed when Dr. King was assassinated.

I have some very sad news for all of you,

and that is that Martin Luther King

and that is that Martin Luther King

was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Everything broke out with riots.

It was one of the saddest memories that I've...

I've had.

Things seemed to be going backwards again.

Seems like as always,

make progress and then we go backwards.

Pretty bleak time for you to believe

that this country was a place

that this country was a place

where we were going to be able to subsist peacefully

alongside our white brothers and sisters.

This is a difficult time for the United States.

It's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are.

[Charles] Robert Kennedy was a person to whom

we all looked because he was the successor we thought of...

of his brother, President John Kennedy,

and then he was assassinated.

[man] Just please stay back, just a doctor, come right here.

[man] Just please stay back, just a doctor, come right here.

[Charles] At that time, we lost two iconic figures in the Black community.

It was just unspeakable.

And it was all on television.

We were all in mourning,

watching, not knowing what to do.

[Carl] What do you do?

You're killing everyone.

Everyone.

All of our leaders.

What do we do?

[narrator] As the decade reached its lowest point,

NASA prepared for its greatest technological feat...

NASA prepared for its greatest technological feat...

[man on radio] You're go for landing. Over.

[narrator] ...causing the nation's social and economic disparities

to play out on an even bigger scale.

[newscaster] Good evening.

That's Apollo 11 out there,

scheduled for a launch to the Moon at 9:32 a.m. tomorrow.

[dramatic music playing]

[Dr. King] I say to you,

if we can spend billions of dollars

to put a man on the Moon,

we can spend billions of dollars to put God's children

on their own two feet right here on Earth.

[crowd cheering]

Back in the '60s,

many of the grassroots political movements

many of the grassroots political movements

had a common adversary in the space race and in NASA in particular.

And they could say that that money and effort

and even, you know, cultural capital

could be much better spent back here on Earth,

fighting for racial equality, gender equality,

to stop the war in Vietnam, for instance.

And I think that's a little bit what's happening today.

We have this incredible moment where private space companies are blasting off to orbit.

They're planning on going to the Moon.

It's really pretty exciting.

It's really pretty exciting.

But at the same moment, on the streets,

we have people who are really upset

with what's going on back down on Earth.

And this is exactly what was happening in the '60s.

[Curtis] When Dr. King was tragically taken away from us,

fortunately, he had a man standing in the wings.

Ralph David Abernathy took up the banner

of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

to continue the work that Dr. King had started.

So on the eve of the Apollo 11 launch,

Ralph Abernathy arrives at the Kennedy Space Center

with 25 poor African-American families,

with 25 poor African-American families,

four mules, and two rickety wagons.

There's press there.

There's newscasters and reporters.

We are here to protest and we are here to demonstrate.

We are here to say that what we can do for space

and exploration, we must do,

and we demand that we do,

the very same for starving poor people.

-Yes! -Yeah!

-Yes! -Yeah!

Abernathy had the power of the press behind him.

They were attentive to Abernathy's activities.

It compelled the NASA administrator

to come and speak to him in public on camera.

If it were possible for us tomorrow morning

to not push the button

and to solve the problems to which you are concerned,

believe me, we would not push the button.

The response of the NASA administrator, which I...

I have to compliment, was, you know,

"If I could stop this launch tomorrow and correct every ill,

"If I could stop this launch tomorrow and correct every ill,

I would do that.

But I can't."

And it would do no good and it would keep us from advancing.

And I think what I'm trying to say here is it is not an either, or.

We have leadership in this country today that believes,

"I win, you lose."

That's not the world.

The world is very nuanced.

Unfortunately, it falls upon us,

the oppressed group,

to educate the group that's supposed to be damn smart.

to educate the group that's supposed to be damn smart.

[Hakeem] So if you want to say,

"Oh, look at the money that they put here.

Could we have put it somewhere else?"

Well, money doesn't work like that, right?

Money isn't a zero-sum game.

I was in the federal government

and I used to press the button,

"Time to send $10 million."

Everything that happens

is a matter of will and choice.

So if you want to give a billion dollars to some good cause,

the money is there.

You have to make it a priority

and you have to do it by design.

and you have to do it by design.

I pray that the astronauts will have a safe flight

and a safe return to this Earth.

[announcer] Thirty seconds and counting.

We are still go with Apollo 11.

The people who came with Abernathy,

including Abernathy himself,

are really excited and they go to the launch.

[announcer] 12, 11, 10, 9.

Ignition sequence start.

Six, five, four,

Six, five, four,

three, two, one, zero.

Lift off!

We have a liftoff!

[triumphant music playing]

[Curtis] Abernathy's demonstration was eclipsed

by the significance of that

technological movement at the time.

[astronaut speaking]

But on the other hand, the nation needed

to think about the fact that people

were starving to death.

And the nation still needs to think about people

that are starving to death.

We still need to do something in those places

where it looks like the 1800s,

where raw sewage is still running

from the back of the house.

At the same time, we're doing all of these things technologically.

Would you believe we're living with that today

Would you believe we're living with that today

and nobody has done anything about it?

When you think back to the 1960s,

it was a very, very challenging time.

And yet we had this one moment in time

when we had American astronauts

leaving the Earth eventually to go step on another world

for the first time in human history.

The world stopped and they were looking

at this amazing human achievement for...

for just these few moments in time.

Now, if we fast forward to today,

we've had challenges.

we've had challenges.

And yet when we launched Demo-2,

again, every news station broke in

and wanted to cover it because again,

it was a human achievement,

just like the Apollo 11 moment on July 20th, 1969.

[Neil Armstrong] Tranquility base here.

The Eagle has landed.

[triumphant music playing]

[newscaster] Wally says, "I'm speechless."

[Neil Armstrong] That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

[Neil] I mean, in some ways,

it was very, very positive for us as a nation.

But I think, in other ways, it's both good and bad.

There were reports of people in Harlem

who were watching baseball games

at that time instead of watching the Moon landing,

because they just didn't feel included in that endeavor.

[narrator] As the 1960s came to a close,

Americans lived in different realities.

But inspiration to build a better society,

both in space and on Earth,

was about to enter millions of American homes

and come from an unexpected source,

network television.

Captain, I'm getting audio signal from the Lexington.

Put it on.

[Hakeem] Many of us who find ourselves in technical careers

started off as curious children

who are watching science fiction programs on television.

The thing about these space science fiction programs

is that they illustrate our aspirations as a society.

And one element of these programs quite often

is how inclusive they are.

[Victor] I absolutely watch Star Trek.

[Victor] I absolutely watch Star Trek.

The people on the TV screen look like

people in my neighborhood,

like people that I saw in real life.

That cast was so diverse.

When Star Trek came on in 1966,

that was new territory.

During the height of the civil rights movement,

they are portraying our future space travelers.

That really, really did a lot for many of us,

because maybe one day this possibly could happen,

because maybe one day this possibly could happen,

that maybe we'll all be working together,

going to places where few have gone before.

[Sonequa] We had Nichelle Nichols playing Lieutenant Uhura.

Being in this position of authority,

being a genius herself,

uh, and seeing that, that was the first time

we saw a Black woman in that way.

Nichelle Nichols was the first African-American woman on television

that wasn't in a subservient role.

She wasn't a slave. She wasn't a servant.

She wasn't a slave. She wasn't a servant.

There is a little, um, similarity between Star Trek and me.

So, Lieutenant Uhura was the communications officer

and I was the communications person on my mission.

So I had to do all the comm configurations.

[Sonequa] She didn't want to stay on Star Trek,

but famously, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

said, "No, you have to because we need to see you."

And she stayed.

And not only that,

she dedicated the rest of her life

and career to progression.

Hi.

I'm Nichelle Nichols,

but I still feel a little bit like Lieutenant Uhura

on the Starship Enterprise.

You know, now there's a 20th century

Enterprise, an actual space vehicle built by NASA

and designed to put us in the business of space.

Nichelle Nichols was appointed to the board of directors,

uh, of the National Space Institute in 1977.

She was responsible for this recruitment campaign

She was responsible for this recruitment campaign

because she said, "Where are the women?

Where are the Black people

and other minorities in this place?"

This is your NASA.

Minorities and women alike,

if you qualify and would like to be an astronaut, now is the time.

I have met Black scientists that have chosen that because of Star Trek.

She took that public platform that she had,

and so she was responsible for bringing in like

8,000 plus applicants,

8,000 plus applicants,

and it led to 35 new astronauts being chosen.

That group was the first group that included women and minorities in NASA.

[narrator] Nichelle Nichols' pioneering role

also paved the way for a new Star Trek captain.

I play Captain Michael Burnham on Star Trek: Discovery.

I stand on Nichelle Nichols' shoulders.

She changed the world.

She changed the world.

I am in the captain's chair now.

That's a pretty big deal.

So let's fly.

[laughs]

Hey!

[narrator] After the example set by Star Trek in the 1960s,

Star Wars picked up the mantle in 1977,

depicting a future in space

that included both Black and white leaders

and featured stars like James Earl Jones and Billy Dee Williams.

While it was a win for representation,

While it was a win for representation,

ardent fans criticized many of its characters

as veiled racial stereotypes.

Star Wars had always had this very, you know,

tumultuous experience with race.

Everyone thought that Chewbacca

was the "Black" character,

the one who was kind of relegated

to the sidekick of Han Solo

and couldn't speak English and all of these tropes.

And then Yoda was talked about as the stereotypical

And then Yoda was talked about as the stereotypical

Asian martial arts master.

[narrator] In 1999, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace,

drew more criticism for its character Jar Jar Binks.

[man speaking]

I played a character called Jar Jar Binks,

which was the first CGI character in film history.

[George] The guy we got has got a great walk and everything,

and when you translate it into Jar Jar, it was great.

[Ahmed] Being Jar Jar was incredibly filling.

The backlash was unexpected.

The backlash was unexpected.

Me is a Jar Jar Binks.

[crowd laughing]

I will never let Jar Jar live on this stage.

[narrator] Ahmed Best's Jar Jar Binks was criticized

and ridiculed by both white and Black audiences.

Hey, Jar Jar, keep away from those energy binders.

[whimpers]

[narrator] The character was meant to add comic relief,

speaking in what viewers perceived

to be a stereotypical Jamaican accent.

to be a stereotypical Jamaican accent.

No, no, mesa stay.

Mesa culled Jar Jar Binks.

When you're doing a movie like that, you're in a bubble.

So all we saw was the wonderful time that we were having.

And so coming out of that bubble

and seeing this reaction was just a shock, which, you know, I...

I sometimes feel a little bit naive about.

[narrator] Despite the criticism,

The Phantom Menace was the highest grossing film in 1999.

[George] Action!

[narrator] Space fans still crave a multidimensional universe,

[narrator] Space fans still crave a multidimensional universe,

pointing towards progress and harmony.

[George] And squat down.

I do believe that George is an incredibly

socially conscious person

and he is very invested in civil rights.

And I think that we're always going to have these conversations

about anything that is as popular as Star Wars.

[narrator] As the diverse science fiction universe portrayed

by Star Wars and Star Trek in the late 1960s and '70s

by Star Wars and Star Trek in the late 1960s and '70s

crept into the public consciousness,

NASA faced further pressure

to turn science fiction into reality.

[newscaster speaking]

[Carl] Prior to the class of 1978,

they did not have women or minorities

in the space program.

My brother, Ronald E. McNair, applied to the space program.

I'm thinking, "Now, if you're going to be an astronaut,

I'm going to be the pope." Okay.

I'm going to be the pope." Okay.

You know, noontime news, Walter Cronkite comes on.

I said, "Oh, man, my brother, he's going to be so disappointed."

And then they announced the name Dr. Ronald McNair.

And from that point, I heard nothing else.

It was almost impossible.

How was this that a guy who came from segregated South Carolina,

by far not your image of the right stuff?

The class of '78 included an Asian man, three Black men,

and six women.

[Charles] NASA knew that they couldn't bring women and minorities

and African-Americans in and then not fly them.

So... so there was pressure on the program to get them flown.

[triumphant music playing]

In the class of '78, you have the first two.

You have Sally Ride,

who was ultimately chosen to be the first American woman in space.

who was ultimately chosen to be the first American woman in space.

And you had Guy Bluford,

who was chosen as the first Black American in space.

Nobody really prepares astronauts for this hero status

and especially being the first.

[narrator] Unlike their white male predecessors,

the first diverse astronauts faced public pressure

that was often racist or sexist and a sign

that not everyone in America was ready to accept these new heroes.

that not everyone in America was ready to accept these new heroes.

Do you know we have a woman astronaut now?

[man] Yeah.

Her name is Sally Ride.

And she asked NASA today to delay her shuttle flight

because she couldn't find a matching purse to go with the space shoes.

[audience laughing]

I was very fortunate because Sally flew on STS-7

and I flew on STS-8, so I flew right behind Sally.

So I saw all the media attention

and I recognized that I was going to get the same thing.

So I used Sally as a way of learning how to deal with the media.

So I used Sally as a way of learning how to deal with the media.

Sure, thank you all for coming out.

There were crazy things that were asked her,

about her make-up, her hair, her dress.

Very stereotypical questions.

[Gloria] What do you suppose are the dumbest

kinds of questions you've been asked to date?

[Sally] Without a doubt, I think the worst question

that I have gotten was whether I cried

when we got malfunctions in the simulator.

[interviewer] Do you weep? Do you, uh... what do you do?

Why doesn't anybody ask Rick those questions?

[all laughing]

[narrator] Sally Ride's history-making flight

capped off more than 20 years of struggle

by the civil rights and women's movements

to gain access and representation in space exploration.

[man] The media attention around the world

has been on Dr. Sally Ride,

who emphasizes that she's a mission specialist

and a scientist who just also happens to be a woman.

[narrator] Years later, Sally Ride also became known

[narrator] Years later, Sally Ride also became known

as the first gay astronaut when it was revealed in her obituary

that among her survivors was her partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy.

A true American pioneer died today of cancer.

Sally Ride.

This is what her biography says, "In an instant,

little girls learned that even the sky wasn't the limit."

[newscaster] Dr. Guion Bluford is now in training for space flight.

I saw the same sort of media attention,

I saw the same sort of media attention,

not to the same degree as Sally.

I was sort of in her wake, to some extent.

Guy Bluford was the trailblazer

for those of us of color.

[Guy] For me, a big break was to graduate

from high school and come to Penn State.

And we had this college counselor who waved me off.

I think the college counselor provided doubt in my mind,

"You may not be able to get into college."

"You may not be able to get into college."

[Leland] We've seen this that in college,

diverse students in STEM

will transfer out because of an experience

they had in college where someone said, "Oh, you're not...

You can't do this."

That's the only way you can become an astronaut

if you get into a STEM degree field.

And so I think there could be more Guy Blufords

if everyone had the access, the opportunity,

and belief that they can be on this same trajectory.

Guy Bluford was a third-generation college graduate

and for a Black man, that is very significant.

and for a Black man, that is very significant.

We don't think about that.

But for three generations, from emancipation, is a remarkable thing.

[narrator] Guy Bluford's flight in 1983 was a triumph for civil rights,

but also a harsh reminder of just how long that struggle took.

I was there 20 years before,

almost to the month before Guion went up.

Now, Guion Bluford is a brain guy.

We're friends.

He is one of the least arrogant dudes.

I was just really proud of the guy,

and I was hoping that he'd come back here

with a wonderful story to tell.

[Guy] When you look down at the Earth,

you recognize that this is a very small planet

and we all have to live on it together

and we all have to share together

and get along together, so that we all prosper on it.

[narrator] After Bluford's flight,

three more African-American men flew in the 1980s.

three more African-American men flew in the 1980s.

Ronald McNair, Frederick Gregory, and Charles Bolden.

The American public, finally seeing Blacks

as mainstream American heroes,

provided a beacon of hope for the next generation.

My brother became a part of the space program before Charles Bolden.

[Charles] I was a test pilot at the time.

Dr. Ron McNair came to where I was assigned.

He said, "Hey, are you going to apply for the program?"

I said, "Ron, not on your life."

And he looked at me incredulously.

And he looked at me incredulously.

He said, "Why not?"

I said, "Ron, they'd never pick me."

He said, "You know, how do you know if you don't ask?"

He was accepted in the cohort of 1980.

[Charles] When I got to Houston in the summer of 1980,

I wasn't ready for the reception

that we would get in the broader Houston community.

I remember I had to go to a neighboring city called Pasadena.

And so I remember driving.

And so I remember driving.

And as I'm crossing the city limit,

there's this big billboard with a guy

on a white horse reared up in a...

and a hood.

And it said, "Welcome to Pasadena,

home of the Ku Klux Klan."

I just kind of went, "You got to be [bleep] me."

Excuse my French. I said, "This is 1980.

Uh, I know I'm not going to have to go through this stuff again."

And sure enough,

that was our first couple of years in the astronaut office.

[narrator] The discrimination that the first

[narrator] The discrimination that the first

African-American astronauts faced

was a harsh reminder that the overt racism

of the 1960s was still alive.

But America would soon get a sober reminder

that their new heroes were not invincible...

[announcer] T-minus 15 seconds.

[narrator] ...that every launch,

they put their lives on the line...

That was a day I'll never forget.

[narrator] ...for the betterment of science

and for all humankind.

[intense music playing]

[announcer 1] Three, two, one, and liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

[announcer 2] Liftoff of Atlantis.

[announcer 3] Liftoff of Columbia.

[announcer 4] Liftoff of Challenger.

[narrator] By 1986, the space shuttle had completed

two dozen missions,

and America was used to seeing

a diverse group of astronauts in space.

[newscaster speaking]

My brother was in Challenger Space Shuttle STS-51.

[announcer] Four, three, two, one,

and liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission.

[crowd screaming]

It exploded, losing the entire crew.

That was the first time I ever saw my father cry.

Might say I have never been the same since.

We come together today to mourn the loss of seven brave Americans.

[narrator] The Challenger explosion was especially tragic,

because it had on board a crew that reflected America,

a civil rights era dream team.

The loss impacted the nation

and the next generation of astronauts.

I think all of us in the astronaut office

went through some soul searching,

trying to decide whether this is really what we wanted to do.

And I tell people, it took me a nanosecond

And I tell people, it took me a nanosecond

to make up my mind that this is where I belong.

I felt that I had a duty to carry out

the legacy of Ron and his crew and to be an example for young Black kids

so that they would not be like me and believe

they will never pick me.

I think, if you talk to a lot of us in the space program,

particularly the Blacks, we all say, you know,

"If that person did it, I can do it."

[narrator] The visibility and representation

provided by the first Black astronauts proved invaluable,

provided by the first Black astronauts proved invaluable,

inspiring the next generations

of diverse Americans to believe

they could achieve the same dream.

I was in awe of several astronauts,

especially the African-American astronauts,

which at the time there were,

you know, a handful of.

In 1987, Mae Jemison was picked for the Astronaut Corps,

and I was very inspired by her.

[narrator] Dr. Mae Jemison became the first Black woman to travel to space.

[Hakeem] When you look at the year Mae Jemison went up,

in 1992, that was also the year of the LA riots

from the, uh, Rodney King event.

[newscaster] Video showed LAPD officers

beating Rodney King with their batons

for 15 minutes after he led cops on a high-speed chase.

[juror] We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty...

[juror] We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty...

[narrator] The shocking acquittal of the officers

who beat Rodney King was a wake-up call to America,

signaling to many that even though

the overt racism of the 1960s

seemed to be in the rearview mirror,

systemic racism was still deeply embedded

in our laws and judicial system.

[newscaster] The verdict set off a firestorm

of uncontrolled riots and violence.

[narrator] The debate about racial disparities

and police use of force spilled into the streets

in the most intense period of social unrest

since the 1968 riots after the death

since the 1968 riots after the death

of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Sometimes, when we send up an African-American into space,

there are issues in America that are racial.

[narrator] Mae Jemison's flight proved

that the American dream could be possible for anyone,

regardless of race or gender.

But it was in sharp contrast to the systemic racism

that still haunts the nation today.

[Hakeem] When we had Victor Glover go up recently,

this is the same year we have the killing of George Floyd

this is the same year we have the killing of George Floyd

and civil unrest around race.

We keep repeating the same old thing.

For most Black people who are not Victor Glover,

our feet were never more firmly planted on the ground.

There was no escaping the reality under which we were living.

And so there's this contrast between

what he's experiencing

and what every other Black person is experiencing.

[Hakeem] It's almost as if the universe is telling us,

[Hakeem] It's almost as if the universe is telling us,

"Sure, shoot for the stars,

but you guys better get your act together,

because as we go out there..." What did they say?

"There's no justice. It's just us."

Right? It's just us out there.

I think people get along better in space than they do on Earth.

[Charles] When you train with people

and you understand that your life depends on them,

man, you forget about color and gender

and sexual persuasion and all that stuff.

You're mission-focused.

You're mission-focused.

[Joan] If we can make it work 250 miles above the Earth,

we can certainly make it work on terra firma.

[narrator] Joan Higginbotham was selected to be an astronaut in 1996,

and in 2006 became the third African-American woman

to fly to space after Mae Jemison and Stephanie Wilson.

The Astronaut Corps has become more inclusive.

I think they still have a little ways to go, I can tell you that.

When I flew in 2006

When I flew in 2006

and we were getting our clothes for the flight,

the pants were like men's size.

I'm like, "Really?

This is 2006, and you're making me wear

a pair of pants built for a man."

Hopefully, they'll start to move at a more rapid pace

as the world moves at a more rapid pace for inclusivity.

[narrator] Two years after Joan Higginbotham,

Leland Melvin was selected to be an astronaut and flew to space twice,

in 2008 and 2009.

in 2008 and 2009.

[Leland] I was the only African-American astronaut in my class.

What really kind of got me unnerved

was when one of my classmates was calling me "boy".

We were equals. We were the same.

We were both 1998 astronaut class.

I've had too many people fight

during the civil rights movement

to not be called boy as a man.

[narrator] In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Charles Bolden

[narrator] In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Charles Bolden

to the position of NASA Administrator,

making him the first African-American to hold the title.

From segregated South Carolina

to one of the most esteemed positions in the world,

Charlie Bolden did that,

and it meant a lot to many people.

[Charles] Among the things that I was really passionate

about was getting NASA at the upper level

to look more like America.

And everybody in the agency,

all 18,000 employees and 40,000 contractors knew

all 18,000 employees and 40,000 contractors knew

that the diversity champion for the agency

was Charlie Bolden, who was the administrator.

If you look at my class, and that's the first time

that NASA has selected a class of astronaut candidates

that was half men, and half women.

And so I think, you know,

looking from the Mercury Seven to the 2013 class of astronauts,

you can see the progression.

It's a reflection of the time.

[narrator] Another reflection of the times.

[protesters] Black Lives Matter!

[narrator] In 2013, the Black Lives Matter movement

[narrator] In 2013, the Black Lives Matter movement

was formed to protest

the acquittal of George Zimmerman,

who shot unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin.

[man struggling]

[narrator] The movement grew in 2014 after Eric Garner,

Michael Brown and others were killed by police,

igniting huge nationwide protests that continued for years.

Most people's first introduction to like

the systemic nature of police violence,

I think that was 2014. It was mine.

I knew the police weren't great.

I knew the police weren't great.

I didn't know they were killing people all across the country.

The work of police violence is like the day-to-day work I do.

So I had been able to be a part of that process

day in and day out,

all around the country and world.

Across the country,

people rallied over the deaths of two Black men shot and killed by police.

Activist DeRay Mckesson's arrest was all caught on camera...

[DeRay] I'm under arrest, y'all.

[officer] Don't fight me. Don't fight me.

[newsreader] ...when Mckesson was picked up on a charge of obstructing a highway.

[narrator] In different ways, DeRay Mckesson and Victor Glover

[narrator] In different ways, DeRay Mckesson and Victor Glover

each represent a new generation,

one on Earth and one in space,

working to build a better future.

And there are others who are also looking

to transform society from a completely different vantage point.

The space billionaires.

They arrived on the scene with massive wealth and egos.

But will their bold visions go beyond their exclusive worlds?

[man] Welcome back, Bill Shepherd.

[narrator] To become a bellwether for inclusivity?

[narrator] To become a bellwether for inclusivity?

Or will they favor privilege over projects and leave behind

untapped talent who are ready for change?

[crowd applauding]

As the space shuttle nears its scheduled retirement,

we will work with a growing array of private companies

competing to make getting to space easier and more affordable.

[crowd applauding]

I recognize that some have said

it is unfeasible or unwise to work

with the private sector in this way.

I disagree.

[narrator] The space billionaires Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson,

[narrator] The space billionaires Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson,

and Elon Musk are pioneering the transition to privatizing space.

They created some of the biggest corporations in the world.

Amazon, Tesla, PayPal, and Virgin.

Today, instead of nations competing against each other,

like we saw in the Cold War space race

between the United States and the Soviet Union,

we're seeing companies compete against each other,

driving down the cost, increasing access to space,

making it more efficient in a sort of a new space race.

making it more efficient in a sort of a new space race.

[narrator] President Obama's bet on the private industry paid off.

These companies have been responsible

for some of the greatest leaps forward in space technology in modern history.

We demonstrated that it's possible.

We now know without any doubt that you can build a reusable rocket booster.

[narrator] The space billionaires proclaimed

that their technological advancements

would lay the groundwork for a future

in which millions of people would be living and working in space.

in which millions of people would be living and working in space.

[Richard] I assumed that I would be an astronaut one day.

So in 1991, I went and registered the name Virgin Galactic Airways.

[Jeff] We're going to build a road to space.

Heavy industry and all the polluting industry,

all the things that are damaging our planet,

those will be done off Earth.

The reason I started SpaceX back in 2002

was really just to help us get to Mars.

[Leland] Elon Musk, he's got this vision.

Some of those innovations that he's making now

Some of those innovations that he's making now

could be a spinoff to some other technology

that could be a game-changer

for all human beings on this planet.

[narrator] SpaceX took the lead on human spaceflight,

launching three NASA crews

to the International Space Station

before Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos got off the ground.

[Curtis] With Elon Musk, he's delivered people to the Space Station

and he's delivering spacecraft

that are going to have some lasting value.

But with the other two,

But with the other two,

I think that it's primarily a vanity program.

[narrator] Richard Branson became the second space

billionaire to get humans to space,

when he launched himself

and three of his employees

aboard his Virgin Galactic space plane.

People are just incredibly anxious about

what's going on here on Earth,

and yet you have these billionaire spacemen blasting off to space.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this here is Sir Richard Branson, astronaut.

this here is Sir Richard Branson, astronaut.

[crowd cheering]

[Curtis] Now you can say that you went into space,

but saying that you're an astronaut, I don't know.

That to me is a...

um, a horse of a different color.

[narrator] When Bezos and his crew finally launched to space,

he gave one seat to Wally Funk,

who was a member of the Mercury 13 Band of Women,

who were denied access to space in the 1960s.

who were denied access to space in the 1960s.

Only one of the Mercury 13 women

to actually get into space.

Good payback.

Wally Funk finally getting her dream.

Every launch, they put somebody on board that made us all tune in.

I'm going up into space.

I don't know how many people can say that.

[Michael] I just want to see the Earth

from that perspective and understand

how small of a part we are of something so large.

Michael Strahan seems like a great guy,

Michael Strahan seems like a great guy,

but I think he was used just like the rest of them

to get publicity for the vanity space program.

[Leland] When you bring up celebrities,

the cameras come,

there's more exposure and there is more little Black kids

who may say, "Hey, Michael Strahan went up.

I can do that because I see someone who looks like me

and they're up there and they're doing it."

[narrator] Having the gatekeepers

of space be billionaires

of space be billionaires

and them being able to choose who gets to go in a rocket

and who gets to go up, they are creating right now

what could be called a space class.

And the...

the difficult thing behind the space class

is it's behind a paywall.

And the paywall is astronomical.

[Christian] Virgin Galactic announced their new price

of $450,000 after Blue Origin

had auctioned off a seat on that first flight,

and it went for $28 million.

and it went for $28 million.

And we're seeing some extremely wealthy people

who are willing to pay a lot of money to get to space.

[crowd cheering]

[narrator] On September 15, 2021,

SpaceX launched Inspiration4,

a mission privately funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman.

It marked the first time that private citizens

orbited all the way around the Earth.

And copy that, SpaceX.

[Ahmed] The danger lies in the fact

that whenever you privatize anything,

the focus of that private company

the focus of that private company

and that private corporation is capital.

'Cause I can't see what the end process is except making money.

And think of what that money could do on Earth.

I don't see it that way.

What I see is the creation of a new infrastructure.

What they have done is they've reduced the cost of access to space.

So if we compare that to, say, the invention of cars

and the invention of airplanes,

even though today the average person

has an automobile and the average person

can buy a plane ticket, it didn't start out that way.

can buy a plane ticket, it didn't start out that way.

So we're at the very beginning of this,

but yet we already see that they are aware that eyes are on them.

We have to be able to have some kind of a say in what they do.

I want to thank every Amazon employee

and every Amazon customer

'cause you guys paid for all of this.

[narrator] The median salary of an Amazon worker in 2020 was $29,000,

while Bezos had an estimated $200 billion fortune.

while Bezos had an estimated $200 billion fortune.

[Curtis] Why wouldn't you take some of that money

and raise the wages and the conditions of the people

that you have working for you?

There is that saying, "No publicity is bad publicity."

Well, listen, Blue Origin's really took that to the limit

because they... Look, Jeff Bezos was getting made

so much fun of by the way he looked,

by the way his spacecraft looked.

The SNL sketch was was hilarious.

They were making fun of, you know, Jeff Bezos,

They were making fun of, you know, Jeff Bezos,

and Elon Musk, and Richard Branson.

[man] Just sort of fly around space, goofing off,

in a ship that looks like a penis.

I mean, it is funny.

So, look, they're the space billionaires.

They're going to get it.

Anytime people have that amount of money

and you use it to go into space, you're going to get it.

The public is able to rejoin that civic conversation

in a way through social media to push back.

As these companies mature,

I think you'll see a lot more equity, diversity, and inclusion.

I think you'll see a lot more equity, diversity, and inclusion.

[narrator] As the space billionaires

were reaching for new heights...

[tense music playing]

[narrator] ...back down on Earth,

American Society was grappling

with one of its lowest points in modern history.

[protester] What do you want?

[protesters] Justice!

[intense music playing]

[protesters screaming]

[reporter] Live from the Kennedy Space Center

at Cape Canaveral, Florida,

a new era in space exploration is underway.

[narrator] On May 30th, 2020,

Elon Musk and his grand vision called SpaceX,

prepared to make history as the first private company to launch humans into space.

[officer] Put your [bleep] hands up right now.

[narrator] But the event was overshadowed

when five days earlier, George Floyd, a Black man,

was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.

was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.

[George breathes heavily]

[officer] What do you want?

[George] I can't breathe.

[woman 1] How long y'all gotta hold him down?

[narrator] The gut-wrenching encounter was filmed

by a crowd of bystanders and went viral.

[man] He's not even resisting arrest right now, bro.

-[woman 1] His nose is bleeding. -[woman 2] Yeah, stop.

[man] You're stopping his breathing right now, bro.

You think that's cool?

The video of George Floyd comes out.

I was recovering from COVID,

but I remember like I watched it on my phone.

I, like, watch most things on my phone

I, like, watch most things on my phone

and I watched it on my phone and it was like, "Ooh, this is bad."

I was at home when I saw the George Floyd recording.

I was just sick.

I didn't see all of it.

I saw the beginning and then I had to stop.

Uh...

It was, uh...

it was awful.

It's very painful.

Um, it was equal parts shocking and not surprising.

Um, it was equal parts shocking and not surprising.

You know, being Black in this country,

especially being a Black man in this country,

I've experienced, especially with law enforcement

since I was, you know, 11, 12 years old, you know?

[Leland] I'll never forget this.

Driving and there was a police officer there

and he stopped me.

And I say, "I don't have any drugs, guns.

I'm a law-abiding citizen.

Please don't shoot me."

You know, I went to space.

We've lost people before in space.

I was afraid of this.

Not that.

[sobbing]

I'm sorry.

[Don] Everyone I saw on that video had some empathy,

saw the humanity, except for the...

the police officers who were there.

Because they've been getting away with it,

with it for decade, after decade, after decade.

with it for decade, after decade, after decade.

[narrator] A week after Floyd's death,

astronaut Victor Glover was in the final months

of his training to become the first Black man

to fly a long duration mission to the International Space Station.

He posted a tweet after George Floyd's murder.

[Victor] My heart is low, my head is level, but my faith is high.

And I think it's okay to acknowledge that sometimes.

And I'm getting ready to ride a rocket into low-Earth orbit.

And boy, I have a lot to look forward to.

And so I wanted to help encourage others

that that may not be able to say that.

that that may not be able to say that.

[Jeffrey] The public expects astronauts to speak out

and to make their voices heard on critical issues of the day.

I am heartbroken.

I am looking at the juxtaposition

of doing the most technologically

advanced things, sending people to space,

but a man dies in police custody.

America, let's get our crap together.

This is, this is unsatisfactory.

We got to stop this.

With the murder of George Floyd,

With the murder of George Floyd,

what we saw was a recognition

that all of the things that Black people had been saying,

that all of the things we've been chanting,

as Black Lives Matter for eight years, were true.

[narrator] In 2020, several other high-profile killings

occurred in the months before the death of George Floyd.

Louisville police shot and killed Breonna Taylor.

[news anchor] Taylor was killed by police

serving a so-called no-knock warrant.

A major new development tonight in the investigation

A major new development tonight in the investigation

into the killing of Ahmaud Arbery,

who was chased down and shot to death

while he was jogging in a Georgia neighborhood.

There was little progress in the investigation

until video of his killing was released publicly.

[Don] I remember the time that I aired

the Ahmaud Arbery video, and I actually showed him being shot by...

by the shotgun, in the abdomen.

And it was...

I couldn't believe that that was happening.

[gunshot]

As I'm driving to NASA,

I get to Georgia and I see this sign,

Brunswick, and I'm like, "Wait a minute."

One of those moments where the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

That could have been me. I...

I jog through neighborhoods that are white.

Because he's jogging, he's not bothering anyone on his daily run,

so I never worried about him jogging, ever.

And then all of a sudden, George Floyd happened

And then all of a sudden, George Floyd happened

and that overshadowed Ahmaud Arbery.

And then I felt guilty because I'm not covering Ahmaud Arbery enough,

but I have to cover George Floyd.

And then Minneapolis, um, you know,

with the killing of George Floyd,

it was the perfect storm of like the pandemic.

People have been inside and want to come outside anyway.

And like, this is a moment to do it right.

[reporter] For so many people to show up

in support of George Floyd, I think speaks volumes.

[DeRay] The protesters in Minneapolis.

I think it was actually their actions that galvanized people.

I think it was actually their actions that galvanized people.

It was the people on the street that I think spread across the country.

[reporter] Demonstrations in dozens of cities,

tens of thousands of people packing streets and parks.

[Joan] It wasn't just the African-American community.

It was everybody.

And it's going to take everybody to stop it.

[news anchor] Demonstrations are taking place

around the world to show solidarity

for the protests in the US.

...to show all of them in America

that we stand with them.

[crowd applauding]

[crowd applauding]

When I saw a report about a group in Germany

that was chanting the name George Floyd,

that really sat with me,

that... that really made me stop and think,

"Something is different."

[protesters] Black Lives Matter!

Because of a video, because of this,

because of this, there are no excuses.

White America is now actually seeing

what we have been talking about.

There are no protests without a broad section

There are no protests without a broad section

of the community understanding that there's a problem,

and being able to tell that story

to as many people as possible,

it was impossible to tell that story without Twitter.

Twitter was the mechanism by which the word

traveled faster than anything else we could have done.

[Joan] Why do we go to space and why do we spend

all this money on space when we have so much down here

and we can be spending this money on something else?

And then you have to think about all the things

And then you have to think about all the things

that we have garnered from space

that have been translated to us on Earth.

The camera in your cell phone came

because we use the technology up there

and we basically shrink it down

so you could have it in your phone.

How incredible is that?

And that today makes everybody a recorder

and they can record, unfortunately,

things like George Floyd.

But NASA technology plays a huge part in everything we do today.

But NASA technology plays a huge part in everything we do today.

[indistinct chatter]

Freedom of speech.

All the things that we've learned from space

is really beneficial and it spreads out

in our society in lots of different ways.

Now, because of cameras, they can't say,

"Well, we hear this stuff,

but I'm not quite sure."

For decades, we heard that.

They saw George Floyd.

We saw the tape with Rodney King.

We saw the tape with Rodney King.

One of the defining things about Rodney King and,

uh, the killing of George Floyd is that

both of them were citizen video.

So Rodney King, it's a guy who just has a camera,

who is in the neighborhood and sees this thing and is like, "This is wild."

First of all, I was thinking about him.

You know, "What could he have done to deserve that?"

With George Floyd, who was Darnella Frazier who had a cell phone.

[Darnella] I got this all on camera. Watch out.

And that changed everything.

[Darnella speaking]

[Gloria] My overwhelming feeling was gratitude

to that young girl who had the camera,

who kept the camera on him.

I mean, she was a witness.

And as Martin Luther King said,

that it's sacred to have a witness.

[protesters] I can't breathe!

[narrator] Bolstered by undeniable video evidence,

the fury over the death of George Floyd

was about to reach a boiling.

President Trump today issued new warnings for authorities

to crack down on protesters.

I am your president of law and order.

As far as this problem of law and order is concerned, I am for law and order.

[narrator] In 1968, Richard Nixon won the presidency

on a law-and-order platform.

[Richard Nixon] It is time for an honest look

at the problem of order in the United States.

[narrator] Nixon projected a calm and stable image

to white voters, especially during the racially charged 1960s.

to white voters, especially during the racially charged 1960s.

In 2020, President Donald Trump invoked similar language.

My administration will stop...

mob violence and we'll stop it cold.

[narrator] The cycle of unresolved problems

present since the civil rights era continues.

[Donald Trump] Radical left criminals, thugs,

and others will not be allowed to set communities ablaze.

[reporter] We're seeing a disturbing police response.

[reporter] We're seeing a disturbing police response.

Textbook evidence of excessive force.

Policing is a fundamentally corrupt, unjust, brutal,

and murderous system,

and we have to transform the way

we do public safety in this country.

[reporter] A producer got hit by some sort of projectile.

We're going to get to a safe spot here, Don.

I remember reporting, the reporter was like,

"Don, we gotta go.

Cops are coming in and they're forcing people out of the way."

...don't shoot!

It is essential that we protect the rule of law...

It is essential that we protect the rule of law...

[sirens blaring]

...and our independent system of justice.

[news anchor] The president posted the tweet,

"When the looting starts, the shooting starts."

[man] ...don't shoot!

[narrator] As racial tensions in America raged on,

Victor Glover looked to the stars.

He was about to become the first Black man

to live aboard the International Space Station

and also the first African-American

in a new era of private space.

in a new era of private space.

[crowd cheering]

[Victor] Being the first African-American assigned

to a long duration mission on the Space Station,

I do feel a sense of pressure,

uh, and that's just to go up there and to do my best.

[crowd applauding]

[Shannon] I do think it's important

that we have such a diverse crew.

The crew wasn't selected with that in mind,

the crew was selected for the skills and capabilities.

But it is important and we have sort of an unofficial

phrase associated with our flight,

phrase associated with our flight,

"All for Crew-1 and Crew-1 for all."

Japanese government has a nice joint program with NASA.

As an astronaut, regardless of the agency,

we help each other.

All for one, one for all, Crew-1.

[Michael] The crew had the opportunity to name the capsule.

Resilience just just fit, it fits the time.

Clearly, this has been a difficult year.

Clearly, this has been a difficult year.

And at the same time, I think everybody has shown

an amazing resilience through these difficult times.

[Victor] Being a rookie,

my concerns are what normal concerns

you would have if you were going to go

sit on top of an almost two-million-pound bomb...

[dramatic music playing]

...and launch up to 400 kilometers above the ground

and then stay there for half a year

and then do it in reverse.

And so, yes, it is inherently a risky job.

[man on radio] SpaceX, go for launch.

[astronaut] SpaceX, this is Resilience, roger go.

[announcer] Nine, eight...

You know, folks like Ed Dwight, Charlie Bolden,

Mae Jemison, and Guy Bluford, and Joan E. Higginbotham,

they climbed mountains that I will never have to climb.

And I'm getting to start this journey from a place that I owe them.

[announcer] One, zero.

Ignition.

Liftoff.

[triumphant music playing]

[announcer] And Resilience rises.

[announcer] And Resilience rises.

Not even gravity contains humanity

when we explore as one for all.

[Victor] The rocket launch, getting into orbit,

seeing the planet from orbit the first time,

coming into the expanse of the International Space Station.

[woman] You are go for approach two and docking.

[Victor] It has just been an amazing journey.

I think it's amazing that Victor Glover has gone into space

and that he should obviously have more recognition

and that he should obviously have more recognition

than he has, especially when you consider

it's only been 17, or so Black astronauts.

[protesters] USA!

USA!

USA!

[Don] But I think it was overshadowed.

[narrator] Victor Glover was less than two months

into his six-month mission to the International Space Station,

when a right wing rally protesting the outcome of the 2020 election...

[indistinct]

[narrator] ...erupted into the Capitol insurrection,

bringing with it parallels to the 1960s.

bringing with it parallels to the 1960s.

Advancements in space travel

were once again not translating

into advancements in our society.

[reporter] We're seeing protesters overcome the police.

What really shocked me and just took my breath away was the desecration,

people walking around with Confederate flags.

That was awful.

[reporter] Trump supporters walked into the US Capitol

and police officers stood and watched.

[newscaster] Many people, including Joe Biden,

[newscaster] Many people, including Joe Biden,

have said if this had been a Black Lives Matter protest

instead of mostly white Trump supporters,

the police response would have been dramatically different.

[Sonequa] This time, it's so charged, it's like a stew.

There's so much strife and division,

then there's also so much opportunity and advancement.

And it's like we're standing at this great precipice of change.

[Hakeem] Being an American space fairer in 2020

had to be a total mind-trip,

because the country is changing so fast.

because the country is changing so fast.

There was such an air of instability.

You don't even know if you're going to return to the same country you left.

Things could change drastically while you're up there.

While Victor was in space,

I did have a chance to talk to him.

His crew, they knew that this was going to be

a pivotal moment while they were in space.

[Victor] I'm not immune from what's going on in the world

in terms of the racial justice and civil rights push,

as well as the pandemic,

the physical and economic insecurity

the physical and economic insecurity

that people are feeling everywhere.

I really hope going to space can unify all people, especially right now.

I believe that aerospace and space flight have this amazing,

captivating capability to get people to see

what humans are capable of when we work together

with or in spite of our differences.

And I hope we give them something to literally and figuratively look up to.

When there is unrest on Earth,

there is something to be said

for the value of leaving Earth,

for the overview effect,

which is what astronauts frequently talk about

when they look down on the planet,

all of the debates and the pettiness

and the violence of Earth seems to shrink to insignificance then.

[Victor] Looking down at the world without borders

and understanding that humans are all connected,

and understanding that humans are all connected,

it just makes me experience that connection even more.

[Hakeem] The thing that's really just blows me away

about America is that we're so rich, we're so luxurious.

We have everything going for us.

We're making great leaps and advances,

especially in access to space.

Why are we awash in violence?

It needs to be changed.

[narrator] With battle lines drawn, can a nation heal?

[woman screaming]

[woman screaming]

[protesters] George Floyd!

George Floyd!

Initially, the city of Minneapolis

released statements saying

that George Floyd died of medical complications,

until it was exposed.

What happened?

The city of Minneapolis was prepared to lie.

Did lie.

The entire system is really responsible for the murder of George Floyd.

Members of the jury, I understand you have a verdict.

Members of the jury, I understand you have a verdict.

[juror] We, the jury, in the above entitled matter as to count one,

unintentional second-degree murder

while committing a felony, find the defendant guilty.

[narrator] The conviction of police officer Derek Chauvin

in the killing of George Floyd was a small victory

in a much larger fight for social justice and accountability.

After two weeks, a verdict has been reached

in the trial of the three men accused of chasing,

shooting, and killing Ahmaud Arbery.

We, the jury, find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty.

We, the jury, find the defendant, William R Bryan, guilty.

We, the jury, find the defendant, William R Bryan, guilty.

We, the jury, find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty.

[DeRay] You know what's so interesting

is for all of the conversation that changed.

The police killed more people in 2020

than every single year we have on date except for 2018.

That is wild.

And a reminder that narrative change

does not mean structural change.

We have made some steps forward,

but also some giant steps backwards.

but also some giant steps backwards.

Legislatures across the country

are trying to move in a direction of purifying the vote

so that it's all white.

The protest in the streets now,

I think they're going to have to escalate for us

to pass the John Lewis law and the other laws

that will help to preserve our democracy.

[narrator] The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

seeks to restore protections against voter discrimination,

targeting people of color.

And there have been successes,

including police reforms and an anti-lynching bill

including police reforms and an anti-lynching bill

that makes the crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

There were 19 states that passed more

restrictive use of force policies.

There were six states now who have restricted

the execution of no-knock raids.

We have seen things happen at a structural level

in a way that's really powerful.

[protesters] We want justice!

So space is a nice to have, and that's like a nice

to have 12 million miles away from the more immediate nice to haves, right?

I'm focused on the must haves,

and our work is to make equitable structures.

It is to make a structure that doesn't rely

on a billionaire to make a decision

that doesn't rely on the police to be good people today.

[Roland] There have been so many criticisms of NASA and space

and this whole idea that it's a waste of money.

That actually, to me, hurts the next generation.

America can gain something significant

America can gain something significant

if we recapture this love of space exploration.

[Elon] We want to have things that make us look forward to the future,

that, you know, make us excited to get out of bed in the morning,

you know, that are inspiring.

We have so many problems that need to be solved.

But at the same time, exploration lends

technological advances for humankind.

We've got to strive for great things in the future

We've got to strive for great things in the future

and look forward to exciting developments,

and, you know, space is one of those things.

[Jeffrey] Where NASA will have its biggest influence

will continue to be in deep space exploration, the Moon and Mars.

[narrator] As the private sector continues to make

technological leaps, NASA's focus has shifted

to a new mission, to get the next generation of astronauts to the Moon,

Mars, and beyond, starting with the Artemis program.

Mars, and beyond, starting with the Artemis program.

[Pam] The Artemis program is our program

to send the first woman

and the first person of color

to set foot on the Moon, since the Apollo program.

My space bucket list consists of one thing,

to work on the surface of the Moon.

That... that's a dream.

For all humankind is exactly what space is,

just like Earth is for all humankind.

just like Earth is for all humankind.

But we sliced it up in little ownership parcels, right?

We can't do that with space.

[DeRay] I'm hopeful that topics like who deserves to be in space,

that more and more people who would never thought

that they could even have a comment on those things can, right?

That people understand that all of this stuff

is the decisions of people and that because people made it,

people can make it differently.

And we say unapologetically that Black Lives Matter.

[protesters] Black Lives Matter!

We are powerful,

We are powerful,

we are useful, we are invaluable,

and we can do anything together.

That feeling, that belief, that spirit,

I was so grateful to see that rising back up, like in the '60s.

Now, thanks to the spirit of equality in the air,

I no longer accept that my group is second class.

[Gloria] Many people may feel that a movement

is a big cohesive thing that excludes them.

Not true.

As the great Florynce Kennedy used to say,

As the great Florynce Kennedy used to say,

a movement is anybody who's off their ass.

Right?

Three hundred and seventy marches and on six continents.

I hope we can make movements part of our lives

and part of knowing that because we were alive,

the world is a little bit better than it would have been.

I always want kids to look at me,

especially kids of color, and say,

"Hey, if she did it, I can do it."

"Hey, if she did it, I can do it."

That's hope.

To have a young kid see a rocket ship leave the planet

and know that there's somebody on that rocket ship that looks like them.

I personally would like to see more Victor Glovers.

Now there's more of a pipeline.

We've got STEM education for diverse people,

but we have to keep our foot on the gas of making sure

that all kids have access

to this pipeline to help get more Victor Glovers.

to this pipeline to help get more Victor Glovers.

Now my hope for the space program

in the far future is that we continue to make things

better for all humankind, all humankind.

[man] We welcome you back to planet Earth

and thanks for flying SpaceX.

[Victor] I hope we have a sustainable presence on the Moon.

I hope we get to Mars.

I hope we continue to push the bounds

and live out that vision.

I love NASA's vision.

To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown for the benefit of humankind.

I hope that we continue to do that in a way

I hope that we continue to do that in a way

that resonates with all of humanity.