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Here are the amazing
adventures of a group of

space pioneers marooned
on an uncharted planet.

Adventure as
challenging as tomorrow.

Good landing, Flash.

We're right near
the tunnel entrance.

We're headed
for the planet Saturn.

Seven, six,
five, four, three, two, fire.

In our modern world,
everywhere we look we see

the influence science
has on our daily lives.

Many of the things that
seem impossible now

will become realities tomorrow.

When you look at the
history of space exploration

within the United States,
there were no Black astronauts.

Astronauts were
white male test pilots

who were all
5'10" on average.

They called it
the right stuff.

Three, two, one.

In America,
space exploration was

never something for Black folks.

But the people of the African
diaspora have always been

scientifically and spiritually
connected to the cosmos.

This connection is something
that's been around for

a long time, but we've been
robbed of our history.

In its symbolism, space allows
you to see what's possible.

SUN-RA: They say that
history repeats itself,

but history is only his story.

I'm not a part of history.

I'm more a part of a mystery.

Well, good afternoon.

It's my pleasure to welcome you
to the Kennedy Space Center,

and it gives me great
honor and pleasure to

introduce our administrator,
Charlie Bolden.

Thank you
all very much.

Um, you know,

it is here that so many giant
leaps have been made,

but what's really
important is that it is here

that many of our future dreams
will be made to come true.

My name is Charles Bolden.
I go by Charlie.

I spent 34 years on active
duty in the Marine Corps,

flew four times on the shuttle.

I was in the pilot for the
Hubble Space Telescope mission.

Discovery,
go for Hubble release.

And I was the NASA
administrator during the

Obama Administration,

the only Black to ever be
the NASA administrator.

Very few people today
even have a clue about

Black people's contribution
to human space flight,

because they weren't
written in history books.

In Africa, the griot is
the master in a village

that carries the
history of the people.

And unless you're very
fortunate to have a parent or

a mentor or somebody else
who teaches you about it,

you might miss it.

If you're really an
observer of Black people's

accomplishments in America,

we've only made progress
in certain areas.

And it seems like in the
larger scheme of things,

there are areas
that are inviolate.

And this space thing falls
right into that category.

I get questions about, you know,
what really happened,

and my answer to that question
is I don't think America or

anybody knows how
complex the situation was.

In 1961, Captain
Dwight received a letter from

President John F. Kennedy
offering him the opportunity

to become the first
Black astronaut.

Well, it
wasn't Black then.

It was Negro astronaut.

♪ Kennedy. Kennedy. Kennedy ♪

♪ Kennedy for me ♪ ♪

When this whole
thing went down,

Kennedy was trying to
get elected president.

And he knew that he
needed the Black vote.

♪ Kennedy ♪

And so supposedly, a group
of Black community leaders

set up this meeting
with Senator Kennedy,

and all these guys had their
agenda about what they wanted.

The story goes, there were
people like Roy Wilkins and

A. Philip Randolph, and
Whitney Young went on last.

He was affiliated with the
Urban League and he said,

"Senator, we can't get
our Black kids into the

engineering and
science schools.

But we've got military
academies, and we can

fill these military
academies up with Black kids.

I'll find the Black kids."

Kennedy is, "Huh,
this is interesting.

What do you want from me?"

And Whitney's answer was,

"Make me a Black astronaut,
and give him to me."

Here inside the Armory
the once very junior senator

for Massachusetts, now at the
age of 43, the president-elect

of the United States
and his wife, Jacqueline.

Kennedy won
the presidency.

But as far as this
Black astronaut thing,

that was the last thing
that was on his mind.

And Whitney was calling him,

"What about my astronaut?
What about our deal?"

General LeMay was
Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The President called
him and asked him,

"How long would it take you
to make me a Black astronaut?"

And the response
was five years.

The President said,
"That's not good enough.

I want some information
on my desk by Friday."

And that's how fast
this whole thing evolved.

Back in those days,
there weren't too many

Black pilots in the world.

Many of them were
Tuskegee Airmen left over

from World War II.

And so now, it was easy
for them to come up with

a set of credentials that
eliminated everybody.

You had to have 1500
hours of jet time.

You had to have a degree in
engineering or natural science.

Your last three effectiveness
reports had to be rated

outstanding, and you
had to be young,

which eliminated the
entire Tuskegee Airmen.

From their point of view,
they came up with criteria

that no Black person in the
universe could ever meet.

So they were trying
to figure out...

who the hell is Captain Dwight?

From the time I was two,
mom would take us to the

airport every day.

It just blew my mind,
the whole idea of flying,

and I went straight into the
military out of college.

I was 27 years old, and I had
a pretty good career going.

At that point in time,

I was the only Black
officer on the base,

and so I'm living
in this white universe.

But I was happy doing
what I was doing,

and I had no reason to
be racially conscious.

I had no intention of
being an astronaut.

That was the last
thing on my bucket list.

But once I was
given the challenge,

then everything changes.

And so I polled all of
my superior officers.

Until a person, they told me,

"They would make hamburger
out of you, Dwight."

But then I called my mom, and
she introduces this race factor,

"You're uplifting
the race if you did this."

And so I went back
to Colonel McDonald.

Colonel McDonald said,

"The hell with your race.
You save yourself,"

and I said something
absolutely stupid to him.

I said, "You know, if I do this,

I'll be on the cover
of Ebony Magazine."

And this guy says, "What
the hell is Ebony Magazine?"

Interesting enough,
people asked me if I wanted

to be an astronaut
when I was a kid.

Flash Gordon.

You didn't think
you'd get away with this.

Did you, Ming?

And I tell them no,

because astronauts
were science fiction things

and aliens and all
that sort of stuff.

And so I never really had
a strong feeling for it.

Math and science were the
driving force in my life,

and I was curious of a
lot of different things.

But the thing
that I loved most,

I was crazy about airplanes.

I didn't look at them
from a pilot point of view.

I looked at them from
a how are they built?

Is it a nice-looking airplane?

Will it fly fast?

So I looked at it from an
engineering point of view.

And interesting enough,
my father was an engineer,

and I never really
recognized that that was

a strange occupation
for a Black man.

I didn't think
that was unusual.

And so I got accepted
to Penn State in the

aeronautical
engineering department.

I showed up on a campus,
and they're not,

they're just not there.

And I realized I was the
only Black student in

aerospace engineering.

Growing up,
my mom and dad, you know,

they always talked
about possibility.

But growing up in
the Jim Crow South,

you just, you knew what
you could and couldn't do,

and you didn't press the system.

You were taught you don't
have the right to do that.

You don't have the right
to drink from that fountain

because that says white, so
don't even think about it.

And it was the
same thing with NASA.

I loved the space program,
I was enamored with it,

but nobody doing that
stuff looked like me.

Ed was in consideration
for the NASA program,

which is America's
civil space program,

and there is no organization
that is more effective in

promoting our
greatness than NASA.

But having a Black man as the
face and voice of America

in space, that's different.

That's real different.

Only two years before this
whole Black astronaut thing

were the first
seven astronauts named.

It's my pleasure
to introduce...

these, ladies and gentlemen,

are the nation's
Mercury astronauts.

They spent millions of
dollars making the first seven

astronaut heroes with
the implication that

they were superheroes.

And there was no way in
God's green earth

they would allow me to
be equal to these guys.

Because if a Black guy could
qualify to be among these guys,

then the first seven guys
were not heroes anymore.

That meant
anybody could do it.

With Ed, there was a
lot of politics involved.

And in my career, I learned

never get yourself
associated with a political.

Never.

I mean, as long as that
political person is in power,

then you'll progress.

But at the same time,
you get a lot of enemies

when you do it that way

because they think you're
in a special group.

The rest of them think
you're in a special group.

From the time I got down to
Edwards for test pilot school,

I was set up to fail.

When you think of test
pilot, do you think edge of

the envelope and all of
that sort of stuff,

like Chuck Yeager, you know,
breaking the sound barrier?

On October 14th, 1947,

Air Force Captain
Charles E. Yeager

made the world's
first supersonic flight.

And he does it.

The first human to
crack the sound barrier.

Chuck Yeager was the
head of the test pilot school.

He was one of my idols.

We're turning out an
entirely different breed of

pilot here at the school.

These guys will be working on
programs all the way from the

surface of the earth to space.

And he called all
the instructors in and

the students before I got
there and tells the people,

"Washington is trying to cram
a nigger down our throats,

and we can't let him graduate."

There was a lot of denial
that this ever happened,

but the story was told to
me by a person that was

in the room so I have
no reason to doubt it.

The other students were
instructed not to speak to me,

not to drink with me,
not to socialize with me.

It's like walking
into a deep freeze.

But this is a lot more complex
than just being racist.

The President should've had
him on board in the beginning

with this Black astronaut idea,

but he was upset
because, you see,

nobody called him.

They called everybody in
this whole aerospace,

test pilot thing, and they
did not call Yeager.

He actually told me this
because he was constantly

calling me into his office
and asking me to quit.

He would pull out a
piece of paper and says,

"There's 150 white boys here

that are more
qualified than you.

You don't belong here."

The isolation and all the lack
of support that I was getting,

this gave me the... the balls

to stand up Yeager,
and we'd go head to head.

I mean, I told him to
kiss my ass, to go to hell,

I don't believe you,
you're a liar.

Any one of those meetings
that I had with Yeager,

I could've been court-martialed.

But I did that, and I
was never intimidated.

Never intimidated.

So I told him,
"I'm not going anywhere."

After I graduated from
test pilot school,

Kennedy announced me as
the first Negro astronaut.

That was the headline.

And so all of a sudden,
my schedule was full with

all of these extraneous
things that I did not expect.

Whitney Young was, got a
laser focus on using me

as much as he could use me.

And his thinking was,
this is the last frontier,

this whole space thing, and
we could use this politically

to do all kinds of things.

I would be away from training

from Thursday until
Monday afternoon,

and I'd be making speeches
all over the country about

the whole concept
of this Negro astronaut.

I was making contacts.

I was spreading the word.

When I got back to Edwards,

the press wanted to talk to me.

They won't talk to none of
the rest of those guys,

so I was getting backlash
from the other students.

From their point of view,
they're going,

"What in the world's
going on here, man?"

A 29-year-old
Negro says he is anxious

to go into space.

He's Captain Edward Dwight
of the Air Force,

selected to be an astronaut,

the first of his race
to be so designated.

When I was first announced,
everybody tried to make

a real big hero out of me,
and all they could think

about was that, you know,

I could be the first
guy on the moon.

But they didn't have
any concept whatsoever

what it took to be a
test pilot or an astronaut.

Cheating death and
all that kind of,

that didn't occur
to these people.

I was a body in a way.

When I was chosen
for this thing,

I was actually divorced.

And they said, "Where is she?
Go find her."

So I had to play the game.

You know, I had to
bring the wife and

I had to bring the kids.

I had to bring the
whole thing together.

This was all orchestrated
by the White House,

by the Pentagon,
and it was imaginary.

It was a lie.

Ed Dwight was being
used for propaganda purposes

because they wanted to show
that they were engaged in

civil rights and
equality for all.

I suppose you could say
that this is definitely

a sign of progress for the
Negro in the country.

PR is a big thing.

NASA is real sensitive to that,

and you have to
be able to do that

without being eaten up by it.

My job was go educate these
people about space traveling.

That was supposed to be
my role in all this stuff,

but I caught hell from
the NAACP and all the

Black organizations because
I wasn't militant enough.

I was in there talking
about space and they

"Man, what's wrong
with you, man?

You got to talk
about the struggle.

Who wants to hear all
about that space stuff and

all of the space part.

Who wants to hear that?

Man, you got to talk about how
bad they treating us, man."

And if I did that,
I would've been deported,

you know, immediately.

I was a special person
with a built-in audience

that somebody else
created for me,

and I got on the cover
of all these magazines

so I felt that I was better
than these guys, really.

I mean, I'm getting 1500 fan
mail letters a day and I was,

I have people tell me I was

the most incredible
person on earth,

and I had to be the
bravest person in the world

to even think about
going in space.

And you hear all that, you
start believing this stuff.

Okay, I guess y'all
know why you're here today.

When the announcement
came, I mean everybody was

there from all over the
country with cameras.

I mean, there was more
cameras than people.

You know what I mean?

I just knew that all the work
that Whitney had done and that

Kennedy had done, that I
was going to be on that list.

I'd like to
introduce to you the new group

of 14 astronauts that
we've been in the process of

selecting for about
the last four months.

Was there a Negro
boy in the last 30 or so that

you brought here
for consideration?

No, there was not.

Okay, I guess
we're through, Paul.

He finishes the list and
for that split second of time,

I said to myself,
"Hmm, maybe it didn't work."

When you began looking
at who had been selected from

the program, it was very clear

that there was no attempt

at that time to integrate.

Right after
the announcement,

I'm calling my parents and
people were calling me and

don't worry, you're still good.

And I was bolstered by that

because I knew for a fact that

they were not going to
walk away from this thing.

About a month later, we were
in Seattle, Washington,

going through what they call
a full mission simulator.

And all of a sudden
somebody says,

"They just killed
the president."

And everything came to a
screeching halt and I said,

"Dude, that ain't
funny worth a damn."

and he says, "No, this is real.
The president is dead."

Here is a
bulletin from CBS News

from Dallas, Texas.

The flash, apparently official,

President Kennedy died at
1:00 PM Central Standard Time,

2:00 Eastern Standard Time.
Some 38 minutes ago.

When I found out the
president was killed,

they shot us back to Edwards,

and nobody was saying
anything to anybody

because everybody knew
what everybody was thinking,

"What's going to
happen to Dwight?"

Within a few years,
that entire support system

that Ed Dwight had disappeared.

Why
aren't you an astronaut?

Are you now in fact completely
out of the astronaut program?

Did you write a
15-page report?

When President
Kennedy was killed,

people who opposed having
Ed Dwight get into the

astronaut program said,
"That's it. Terminate it. Stop."

You feel that
what's happened to you is

a setback for the civil rights
opportunities in this country?

I would rather
not comment on that.

My hope was just getting
into space in any kind of way.

But they were not going
to let that happen,

and they said, number one,
I wasn't tall enough.

I was Catholic.

I wasn't Black enough.

I was not the model
of the negro race.

I felt very, very used and
I made a decision to resign.

Had all of the
things being equal,

I would've made it to the moon.

I had the capability and I was
not given that opportunity.

For a second or
two microseconds,

you wrap that around and then
you throw it in the trashcan.

When I think about
Ed Dwight, I sometimes wonder

if things had played
out differently and

he indeed went to space.

Let's think about what a
difference that would've made.

At that moment in
the Black community,

this was a difficult time.

As for
America, Black people have

been here for more
than 400 years.

We have contributed dearly
in all of the gains

this land has made.

And we have suffered
disproportionately in

all of its failures.

Space really allows
us to realize the hope that's

within all of us
as human beings,

and so to see a
Black man in space

during that period of time,

it would've changed things.

REPORTER
If all goes well,

some 112 hours and 50
minutes after liftoff,

Neil Armstrong will step
on the lunar surface.

It shows what the richest
nation in history can do

when it puts its mind to it.

I was a
student naval aviator.

As a matter of fact, I was, I
was in Meridian, Mississippi.

My wife and I had rushed back
from a, from a raucous weekend

in New Orleans to sit before
the black and white television

and in the bachelor
officers quarters

at the Naval Air
Station Meridian,

so we could see human
beings land on the moon.

Leading up to that,
there was a protest to the

NASA administrator that he
should stop the launch.

♪ No more mean white folk ♪

♪ Over me, over me ♪

Ladies and
gentlemen of the press,

on the eve of one of
man's noblest ventures.

I am profoundly moved by our
nation's scientific achievements

in space and by the
heroism of the three men

who are
embarking for the moon.

I have not come to Cape Kennedy
merely to experience

the thrill of this
historic launching.

I'm here to demonstrate in a
symbolic way the tragic and

inexcusable gulf between

America's
technological abilities

and our social injustice.

They said NASA should
take some of the money that

was going into the space
program, if not all the money

and put it into, into
poor people in social needs.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm here because you invited

me to be here and
because I want to be here.

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.

I would make a counter request,
and that is when you

have your prayer vigil tonight
that you'll pray for the

safety of our astronauts.

This would mean a great deal to
all of us in the space program.

The NASA
administrator told them,

we believe that down the
road this is going to benefit

what you're trying to do.

That was his argument.

They didn't buy it,
but nonetheless,

they launched and
the rest is history.

Five, four,
three, two, one, zero.

All engines running.

We pray for these
brave, courageous heroes,

make their way to the
moon home tomorrow.

May they never forget their
suffering brothers and sisters

down here on the earth.

May they think about us
tomorrow and pray for us

as we will be praying for them.

It's
one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

For this little
Black kid to not see any

you know, Black people being
part of the space program

just egged me on.

I said, "Well, they
may not want us there.

I may not see someone who
looks like me, but we're going

to prove them wrong and
I'm not the only one."

We tend to equate
progress with concessions.

We can no longer
make that mistake.

You see, when they gave us
that nigger astronaut,

you said, "We were
making progress."

But I told you, "They were
going to lose him in space."

He didn't get that far.

Black power
means Black dignity.

We don't want any more
than you have and

we're not going to accept
any less than you have.

That's Black power.

After the early days
of the civil rights movement,

you had Stokely Carmichael
and organizations like the

Black Panthers that were
incredible in their ability

to build pride in the
Black community.

We don't need
anybody to tell us to

stand up anymore.

Not only are we going to stand
up, we going to right the

wrongs of our people
in this generation.

♪ When you wish upon a star ♪

And then you had
other people who had their

eyes somewhere
out on the future.

Growing up as a
poor painfully shy child,

author Octavia Butler found a
refuge in the limitless world

of science fiction.

♪ Life ain't always
what it seems, oh yeah ♪

You got to
make your own worlds.

You got to write yourself in.

Whether you were a part of
the greater society or not,

you got to write yourself in.

♪ You're a shining star ♪

♪ No matter who you are ♪ ♪

As a kid, space was
never something for the

Black diaspora, but Afrofuturism
was this cultural aesthetic

that gave Black people
the opportunity to

see ourselves in space.

Nobody's seen a
Black in outer space.

That was not even a
concept of nobody's mind,

especially sitting on a
spaceship like it's a Cadillac.

♪ Shining star for you to see ♪

♪ What your life can truly be ♪

♪ Shining star for you to see ♪

And so Afrofuturism
provides a vision of the

future with our
flavor added to the mix.

♪ Shining star for you to see ♪

♪ What your life
can truly be ♪ ♪

SUN-RA: I am Sun-Ra,
ambassador from the

intergalactic regions of
the council of outer space.

How do we
know you for real?

Shoot, I know I'd
probably take off running if I

see somebody walking down
the street talking about

going to outer space.

SUN-RA: How do
you know I'm real?

Yes.

SUN-RA: I'm not real.
I'm just like you.

You don't exist
in this society.

If you did, your people wouldn't
be seeking equal rights,

so we are both myths because
that's what Black people are.

Myths.

They take frequent
trips to the moon.

I noticed none of
you have been invited.

How do you think
you're going to exist?

The year 2000 is
right around the corner.

When Neil
Armstrong stepped onto the moon,

the restless American spirit
began asking the question,

what next?

Well, this morning we
start to get the answer.

This is
Orbiter 101 as it rolled out of

the hangar in
Palmdale, California.

A lot of people talk
about the technological

marvel of the space shuttle.

A
transportation system capable of

delivering 65,000 pounds of
payload into orbit.

And I said, true,
but that's not its

most important contribution
to humanity.

It was a big vehicle like the
size of a 737 airplane that

could carry a crew of seven,
but it only needed two pilots,

so people who were scientists
and engineers could fly along

as crew members while
the two pilots up front

took care of flying the vehicle.

All of a sudden we were
able to hire astronauts

who didn't look like the
classic NASA astronaut,

so it revolutionized the
makeup of the space program.

I had been a test pilot
for NASA for about six years,

but every day I came in
and did the same thing.

I felt like I was in a rut,

and then I saw something
that to this day, uh,

it just still,
still overwhelms me.

Hi,
I'm Nichelle Nichols,

but I still feel
a little bit like

Lieutenant Uhura on the
Starship Enterprise.

There was a young
lady that we all knew and

her name was Lieutenant Uhura.

Frequency open, Mr. Spock.

Come in, star base.

Come in Captain Kirk.

She was Nichelle Nichols
and she was on Star Trek.

Star Trek projected
a future in space that

included all of us, so I became
very involved with NASA,

with the idea that
especially Black people

had to have an awareness
of those possibilities.

It's still an all
white male astronaut core.

People are somewhat well,
the credibility is rather zero

with NASA in the minority
and female community.

I remember her saying,
"I don't see me here."

And she went out on a campaign
and crisscrossed the country.

Suddenly there was
this connection going from

fantasy to fact, and I
was that spokesperson.

I saw her on TV.

I'm speaking to
the whole family of humankind,

minorities and women alike.

I know she
was talking to me.

Others claim she
was talking to them.

No, she was talking to me.

If you qualify
and would like to be

an astronaut, now is the time.

This is your NASA.

A space agency embarked on
a mission to improve the

quality of life on planet
earth right now.

The last NASA astronaut
selection was in '69,

so there was a gap.

One program was shutting down,
a new one was beginning.

Camera. Speed.

Fred Gregory, scene 28.

Guion Bluford. Scene 26.

Ron McNair, scene 27.
Take one.

The National Aeronautics
and Space Administration

today chose the 35 persons
who will ride the space shuttle

into orbit and back
in the 1980s.

Among them are three Blacks,
one oriental, and six women.

It's my pleasure
to introduce Guy Bluford.

♪ All eyes on me
alright alright alright ♪

When I applied, I wasn't
sure that I'd ever make it.

You'd read in the newspaper,
these people have been

selected for the astronaut
program and they all

leap tall buildings
with a single bound.

I went down to Houston and
I saw the competition and

I'm sort of saying, "Hey, I want
to see who these people are

that are better than I am."

I'd like to welcome
Major Frederick Gregory

from the United
States Air Force.

♪ Help him find the funk ♪

At this time, my goals
in life were not something

specific like to be a pilot
or be a doctor or something.

I wanted to have fun
and make a contribution.

I was one of the first
Blacks in integrated schools

in Washington DC, the only one
in my class at the academy,

so if there were a barrier,

it would have to be
a big one to stop me.

♪ Hey, yeah ♪

♪ Shine the spotlight on him! ♪

♪ Help him find the funk ♪

Chosen as a mission
specialist, Ronald McNair.

Being a scientist, I see
it as something that's part of

man's nature to explore
as far as he can and

as deep as he
can into the unknown.

Becoming an astronaut is
something that I've wanted to

do for a long time, but I
didn't see how it was possible

until a mission specialist
position was created.

At that time, there was
nothing standing in my way

except to pursue it.

To say that we're
pleased with the selection

is an understatement.

They are undoubtedly the best
looking group we've ever had

as astronauts, and
that's the 35 new astronauts.

♪ Help him find the funk ♪

♪ Ha da da dee da
hada hada da da ♪

♪ Help him find the funk ♪

♪ Most of all he need the funk ♪

♪ Everybody's got a
little light under the sun ♪

After I left the military,

I was very quiet and
I didn't say anything.

I was just numb.

And this was an interesting
time for me because

I didn't know what
to do with myself

after 13 years in the Air Force,

but I did have a
background in art

since I was a little bitty kid,

and so I wanted to
do something creative.

I had a construction company
at the time, and so I started

picking up all the junk from
my construction sites and

next thing you know, I got
the house all decorated

with my sculptures.

Lieutenant Governor George Brown

purchased one of
my little pieces of art.

He was elected our first Black
lieutenant governor in the

state of Colorado and he said,

"I've been watching
you with your art, and

they want a sculpture of me
to adorn the capitol building."

That started my art career
that I didn't know I was going

to be starting, to be
totally candid with you.

After I completed the
sculpture of him,

he awarded me a big project
for the state of Colorado,

a series that had to do with
the Black migration west,

and I asked him,
"What did they do?"

He got rather irate.

"What are you talking about?

Have you ever heard
of Harriet Tubman?"

And I was 42 years old and

I had never heard
of Harriet Tubman.

I grew up with basically
a white education and

I didn't realize that I had
been told every day of my life,

anything of reality that
we experienced today

was done by white people.

And it didn't come into
my reality what George was

talking about until I read
all, all this Black history

that I had
didn't know existed.

That obviously had to change
my whole internal agenda

and I got very angry.

In the beginning, I never
thought about Black history,

but as this thing went along,

I began to realize
the power of, you know,

this storytelling, uh, idea,

and so my motivation

was 100,000%
with educating people.

Times have changed to
the point where Black men

can enter areas that were
heretofore some sort of,

you might say, prohibited.

To some youth, particularly
in our youth who felt that

such goals were not
reachable or unattainable.

Do you feel that
three is an adequate number

at this point in time?

Well, certainly I
don't feel three is adequate.

I think as many as you can
get in, but three is a start.

Let's do it.

Boy,
Guy, Ron, and Fred.

How are they similar?

They're all three Black.

They're all three male.

♪ I wanna come back ♪

That is
about the end of it.

♪ 'Cause I like it like that ♪

Fred came from the
helicopter community and then

worked his way into fighters
while he was serving at

Langley as a test pilot.

And so Fred is the
classic NASA astronaut.

♪ Your sweet phalanges ♪

Guy is not the
typical fighter pilot.

You know, we're accustomed
to fighter pilots who are

braggadocious and, and
boastful and everything.

That's not Guy.

Guy is an engineer
and an engineer first

and he'll tell you.

And so he was selected
as a mission specialist,

not as a, not as a pilot.

♪ What I say ♪

And then Ron's
the brilliant engineer

with his doctorate
in laser physics.

He's a renaissance man.

I always admired the
fact that he went to MIT.

I, I would've been
blown out at MIT, you know.

Ah, ugh, whoo!

♪ Let me stop procrastinating ♪

Fifth degree
black belt in karate,

could have been
a very successful

professional
saxophone player.

That was Ron.

I was very thankful
of the fact that

when we came in in '78,
there were three of us,

but Fred and Ron
as well as myself,

all recognized that
one of us would be

the first Black astronaut.

The 35 candidates
begin two years of unisex,

interracial training at
the Johnson Space Center,

July 1st.

Those who pass will become
astronauts, ready for advanced

instruction as members of
the seven person crews

who will fly the Space Shuttle
in the 1980s.

There were 15 pilots and
20 mission specialists of

very brilliant scientists
and engineers and

that's when we all started.

We had, uh, briefings
on how the shuttle flew.

These were classroom
instructions and

I assumed Fred would be the
first guy to fly in space,

'cause he's a test pilot.

Test pilots were the king and,
you know, mission specialists

were just those
lowly guys who ride

in the back of this vehicle.

Certainly,
um, people say,

"Well, were you competing to
be the first Black astronaut?"

I don't remember competing,

but I'm told that
there was competition.

Everybody jockeyed
around to figure out,

how can I fly before such
and such and such and such.

It was sort of a, I'm better
than you if I fly before you.

And you were dealing
with people who knew

how to play the game.

Each of the astronauts knew
who the decision maker was.

So everybody ran around
kissing the rump of this guy

named George Abbey,

and I did just the opposite.

I avoided the guy.

I figured the less he knew
about me, the better, you know.

I didn't really want to be
the first Black astronaut.

And then the other thing is,

Blufords are all introverts.

I am not a um, party-goer.

I treasure what
few friends I have.

I never joined the frat.

I'm not a frat guy.

I recognize I didn't want
all that hoopla, you know.

I would go to the gym
five days, six days a week.

Guy was always there.

He was a runner.

I'm not a runner.

And so it was more, you know,
waving and saying, hi.

I don't
bring my work home.

No.

I, I left it at work.

I had two kids that were going
into eighth and ninth grade.

They needed my time.

It's easy for me to
be an average guy.

Sometimes I need to be
reminded that I am

better than I think I am.

The flight of STS-8
is now about 18 hours away.

That's when Challenger
will be thrown into space.

Official liftoff time set
for 2:15 tomorrow morning.

It's the first nighttime
launch for the shuttle,

but not the only first
for this mission.

Colonel Guy Bluford
will make history when

the shuttle lifts off.

He'll become the first Black
American to fly in space.

All through my training,
I was told by friends and

enemies alike, "You're 20
years too soon, buddy."

This is something that
has to be resolved by

the American public.

And sure enough, 20 years
after I went into the program,

Guy Bluford went up.

20 years.

I was surprised
when I got selected,

but being the first
Black astronaut

was just a toss-up between
me and Ron McNair.

But then in the end, the
killer was I was a flyer.

Ron McNair was not a pilot.

T minus 11,
ten, nine, eight, seven.

As the clock counts down,
the three main engines of the

shuttle light up and the thing
that strikes my mind is,

"Wow, this thing moves."

And the
shuttle has cleared the tower.

It takes an awful long time
for our society to change.

There's all of this inertia
that you have to overcome,

but we eventually
do it over time.

ASTRONAUT
Standing by for

shuttle rocket separation.

Challenger,
Houston with you on TDRS.

Houston,
Challenger loud and clear.

How do you read the CDR?

Roger.
Loud and clear also.

People ask me did I get
a spiritual uplifting, um,

one with nature, all that
sort, I said, "No, no."

On STS-8, my biggest concern
was do the best job possible.

You can see we
have a smooth spin up.

it spun all the way
up to 40 rpm and uh...

stayed very stable
right at 40 rpm.

I was less concerned
about the hoopla associated

with a historical perspective.

I'll handle that
when I get down.

But I wanted to make sure I
did a good enough job that

when I got down
people would say,

"Bluford did a good
job and we can fly

African-Americans and we
don't have to sweat it."

Challenger, Houston with you.

The president is on the line.

REAGAN
Guys, congratulations.

You, I think, are paving the
way for many others and

you're making it plain
that we are in an era of

brotherhood here in our land.

We're all looking forward to
another successful mission and

to your safe landing here
in California on Labor Day.

This
question is for Guy.

Could you reflect a little bit
back on your role and do you

think that your part in
the mission is helping to

pave the way for
other minorities?

I think the answer to
the second question is yes.

Lieutenant
Colonel Guion S. Bluford.

From a historical point
of view, I feel as if

I'm opening the door for those
behind me and, uh, you know,

I just anticipate that
this will be more of a

normal operation than an
un-normal operation.

It took me a while to
recognize the importance

of being the first
African American.

And then I learned
about Ed Dwight.

An interesting time
to note that a Black American

might have been into
space a long time earlier.

What's your feeling
about Guy Bluford?

That's incredible.

Yeah, he's done a very
outstanding job and

he's to be congratulated.

People look up to you
because you have done this,

even though you may
have questioned if you

really deserve it or not.

I'd made it because
Ed Dwight did his thing

and for me that was a biggie.

Modern day heroes,
like Guy Bluford,

are emerging and aspiring
new faith in our system and

new hope for the future.

When I went into
the astronaut program with

Ron and Guy,

I thought that we found this
torch and lit this torch.

But what we found was
that after Ed Dwight,

there were other
Black astronauts and

all of this history was
never, ever recorded.

Oh, this one's top secret.

That's when I learned about
a guy named Bob Lawrence.

Major Lawrence,
do yourself feel that this

is a tremendous step
forward in racial relations?

No, I don't
think this is especially

a tremendous step forward.

I think it's just another
one of the things that, uh,

we look forward to in this
country with respect to

the progress in civil rights.

When we look at
the comparison between

Bob Lawrence and Ed Dwight,

Bob Lawrence was in
a classified program

and that was okay to people
who resisted Ed Dwight.

They could handle somebody
in a classified program

who may never be seen.

The MOL program was a
very secretive DOD program.

Those who were in the program
were all very successful

in their careers.

And so it was expected that
Bob Lawrence would be

the first Black astronaut.

For jet training, the
Air Force used the F104 and,

um, on this particular day,

Bob Lawrence was actually
training another pilot.

The student was flying
an approach, executed to

pull up a little bit late,
and Bob Lawrence was able

to call for him to eject.

So the student got
out of the airplane,

but Bob Lawrence was
not able to get out.

After Bob was killed,
I got a letter from some

irate citizen that said that
they were glad that he was dead

because now there would
be no coons on the moon.

You know, mixed in with
the sympathy cards,

every once in a while you'd open
an envelope and here would be,

you know, a letter or a note
saying how happy they were

that the event had taken place.

He was only in
the program about

five or six months and,
um, it's a shame.

It really is a shame.

It's amazing.

Absolutely amazing.

And then I found out
that the Soviet Union

also had a Black astronaut.

Cuba was
the ninth country...

that had the chance
to travel to space.

And I became...

the cosmonaut number 97.

Around the
same time that we had

Guy and Fred and Ron,

there was a Cuban who was
the first person of color

to fly when he flew
with the Russians.

And in the case of civilian
space and space exploration,

the Soviet Union
was our enemy,

but the Soviets were
very conscious of the

racial disparity that we have
here in the United States.

And so a program was formed
to show that they were

allowing people of all
creeds, colors, persuasions

to have this opportunity
to go to space.

That was really important,

even if it were just
one person at a time.

Tamayo was the Soviet
version of Ed Dwight.

They both were selected
for propaganda purposes,

but the Soviets
made that history,

not the United States.

.

We were competing
with the Soviet Union on

the international stage where
you wanted to demonstrate

that you were the power.

So we never recognized
the importance of

his accomplishment.

In the United States...

everything that had to do
with Cuban success,

they restricted it.

I didn't know
anything at all about Tamayo.

I have no idea.

I didn't
know who Arnado was.

I know where Cuba is,
90 miles south of Florida.

That's about as much
as I know about Cuba.

No media has published
the results on television.

They say that
it's a Cuban tale.

As you begin to look
back and you see a lot of

our history was never known.

And so here I thought I was
initiating all of this stuff

because I'd never read about
it, never heard about it,

and then I realized, no,
I'm just in line, you know.

Once I became
famous so to speak,

I could have easily taken off.

No.

My job was to break
open the barrier,

but my accomplishment
would not mean much

unless other Black
astronauts fly.

I thought I had the
responsibility to make sure

Ron fly, make sure Fred flies,
make sure Charlie flies.

And I'm a big time, "Hey, I
want to make sure you fly."

At that point, there were
an awful lot of missions

going on, so we were busier
than a one-armed bandit.

♪ Pack your grip,
takin' you on a trip ♪

When Ron was getting
ready for his first flight,

a lot of his training happened
at the Kennedy Space Center

in Florida, and he
needed a way to get there.

And I found out that we both
grew up in South Carolina,

so I volunteered to
be Ron's chauffeur.

♪ On the groove line tonight ♪

When I got my
first assignment,

my job was a pilot.

♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Get this train ♪

The mission itself
was a laboratory mission.

That was exciting to me
because I knew that

what they then learned would
be in books or in lectures.

That is the thing
that keeps you excited.

It's the thrill of discovery.

I did not want to
be a one-time flyer.

♪ Leave your worries behind ♪

Plus I enjoyed
flying in space.

So I elected to fly my second
flight in October of '85,

and then there was
Charlie Bolden.

♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Yeah tonight ♪ ♪

I was in the
second group of people

selected to fly
the space shuttle.

And when I think
about my journey into space,

I contend everybody who
gets to see the planet

from that perspective
will be changed forever.

♪ Tonight ♪

♪ Rain, shine, don't mind ♪

♪ We're ridin' on the
groove line tonight ♪ ♪

Once you get to
space, you are literally

trying to fall back to earth
and centrifugal force won't

let you, and so you
feel like you're floating.

So that was the feel,
the sense of feel.

The knockout punch though
was the sense of sight.

This planet is incredibly
breathtaking and

looking through the
cameras that God gave us,

it is unlike anything

that you can see through
even the best cameras.

None of them
compare to the human eye.

One of the things that
really surprised me was

how small the earth was.

We went around the
earth every 90 minutes.

Some of the very
smart scientists went to orbit

knowing what they were going
to see, and I found in many

cases they didn't
know what the truth was.

That was exciting to me
because that began to justify

the reason why we were
doing these things,

was to learn and discover.

I remember the
first time I looked at the

continent of Africa, I cried.

I had studied for a year,

preparing myself to be able
to look down and see

Senegal and Nigeria and all
these other countries,

and I couldn't tell
one country from the other

because there were no lines.

You looked at that and you
recognize the way God

intended the planet to be.

We all knew it was going to be
something, but we had no clue

that it was going to have
the impact that it had.

No words.

I'm sorry there just
aren't any words.

There just aren't any words.

The blacks are blacker,
the blues are bluer,

and the whole experience of

watching sunrises in a
matter of a few seconds

and set just as
fast is mind-boggling.

Nine days after
I flew my first flight,

Ron and his crew strapped
in for his second mission.

All right,
now ready to go.

Okay, up on the stool there.
Real tall.

Up here?

We need
the jackets zipped or

you want to leave them?

Why
don't we zip them up?

Casual, big smile.

We caught Ron at a good time.

Alison,
how about smiling?

I only brought one smile.

I'm going to save that one.

Ron, you
like you're thinking.

Ron's going to
save it for the real thing.

This is
Mission Control Houston,

all orbiter systems continue
to function normally and

Mission Control is ready for
the launch this morning.

In the space program,

everybody's got
different jobs to do.

My role on the Challenger
mission 51L was as the

lead Cap Com,
capsule communicator.

T minus
10, 9, 8, 7, 6.

We have main engines start.

4, 3, 2, 1, and liftoff.

Liftoff called the 25th
Space Shuttle mission and

it has cleared the tower.

All of the experts
in Mission Control have

monitors in front and
it's a lot of data,

and I'm looking at a monitor
behind the flight door.

We got 65.

65, final.

confirms, thank you.

Challenger,
go with throttle up.

And I see this,
this big explosion.

And I wanted to immediately
grab the microphone and say

something like,
"Godspeed, Challenger,"

but I didn't, and I
regret it to this day.

Um...

You know, life changed
forever for a lot of us.

For me, I had to make a
decision like everybody

in the office,
"Was I going to stay?"

You know, "Is this
really what I want to do?"

And um, it took, it took me,

I tell people it
took me a nanosecond.

I mean, like, really quick.

I thought about it and
instantly I said, you know,

"Ron would be really pissed
if I walked away now, if, um,

if I didn't go to work and
figure out what went wrong

so that it never happens again."

To be quite honest, Ron is the
reason that I'm here today.

Had it not been for meeting
Ron, I probably would've

never even thought about
applying for the space program.

1978, when I started
test pilot school,

was also coincidentally
the year that NASA selected

the first group of space
shuttle astronauts.

One day, three or
four NASA T-38s,

each of them carrying
two astronauts,

pulled up on the flight line,

and out of the backseat
jumped this Black guy.

I knew there were three
Blacks in the program,

but it was not until I
physically met Ron McNair

that I experienced the
power of representation.

I rushed over to meet him and
greet him, just mesmerized.

He and I spent the weekend
just talking about what it was

like in his training and how
exciting it was and all that.

And the last thing
he asked me, he said,

"Hey, are you gonna
apply for the program?"

I told him, "Not on your life."

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

He looked at me with this
incredulous look on his face,

got a scowl almost, and said,

"That is the dumbest
thing I ever heard."

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

So I just kind of stood there
startled and watched Ron

get in his airplane and
blast back to Houston.

I went home and
I said, you know,

"I think I'm gonna apply
for the space program."

Ron was a mentor to me, much
as my mom and dad had been.

He was also a brother
in a lot of senses.

You don't see too many
people like Ron McNair.

What lessons do we
learn from this trauma?

America at its best, two
women, a Jew, a Black,

an Asian, white males,
at our best as a nation.

Progress always
comes after sacrifice.

In the astronaut office,
all the people that had been

assigned to crews, all
of that was canceled.

The whole agency
came to a stop.

We didn't know what to do.

In my case, I had good
friends on the shuttle.

That's why I stayed.

Within weeks,
I got assigned to take over

the Safety Division at the
Johnson Space Center.

It gave me something
to do to feel that

I was contributing
to the recovery.

Charlie was a brand
new guy in the office,

so to speak.

I was on the action
investigation team.

We looked at everything.

And I thought, of all
the things I could do

to honor those people is to
make sure that we find out

what happens
and we fly safely.

FLIGHT CONTROLLER
And lift-off, lift-off.

America's return to space as
Discovery clears the tower.

And we did
return to flight.

And that was really important
that we showed that

we could get knocked down,
we could figure things out,

and we could get back up.

In addition to that,
representation becomes

critically important to help
us keep moving down that path.

We are now at the point
where we can bring together

lots of different types of
people and make sure that

we're using all the
talents that we have.

As a Black astronaut,
we are symbols of what we can

accomplish as a people,

despite what others
may think of us.

I strongly believe
that firsts are not important,

if there are no seconds and
thirds and fourths, and that

only comes when you have a
diverse workforce that is

representative of
the nation as a whole.

I want the history books
to represent everyone.

I don't want it to
represent just one side

the way it does today.

When you fly in
space, you feel this

profound connection to the
legacy of those that have

been there before you and
actually helped you get there.

But this sense of legacy
was never more apparent

than in 2020 when
Victor Glover was in space.

While I was in space,
I thought about legacy

quite often,

because it is a very
small group of people

that can truly understand
what it's like

to be a Black astronaut.

Astronaut
Victor Glover has spent

the past month and a half on
the International Space Station

on a long-term mission.

Growing up in
America as a person of color,

there's this double
consciousness pulling

in different directions.

That tension, um, doesn't
get any easier, you know,

when you get to be an astronaut.

As Black people in
this country, we have always

had to navigate
these two worlds,

one foot in the Black community

and the other
in the white community.

And it is not a choice.

It's something that
we have to do if

we're going to be successful.

I can't breathe! I can't
breathe! I can't breathe!

The 12th day
of demonstrations in

dozens of cities, one of
the biggest nationwide

days of protest since the
killing of George Floyd

in police custody.

The Derek Chauvin
trial over the killing of

George Floyd happened
while I was in space.

I took a painting of
George Floyd with me.

It was right next to me for
six months, for 167 days.

It is difficult when,
you know, you want to be

a part of the movement, but
I also am a military officer

and a NASA astronaut, and that
comes with a responsibility.

Trying to rectify the
bittersweet nature of this

country that can send me to
space as its representative,

but also has allowed these
things to happen to Black men

and women, more so than
in any other people,

it was an overwhelming and
emotional time for me.

There's
Victor in space.

When I think back on
this really tough time

in our country, I think
about what I was feeling

down here on Earth
and I felt numb.

I could only imagine what
my brother, Victor Glover,

was feeling up there.

Hey,
everyone, how you doing?

Um, it's been a tough,
uh, few days.

I, I keep talking about that
juxtaposition of doing this

most incredible, audacious,
heroic thing and we get

people up to space and,
uh, really hard stuff.

Rocket science is pretty hard,

but civil rights in our country,
it ain't rocket science.

For me,
this is like deja vu.

It's frustrating and angering,
and you look back and you say,

"I cannot believe that all
the things that we worked for,

we're going backwards."

I was watching the
news, thinking about that

could have been me.

That's the gravity of
this situation, right?

It could have been any of us.

There were a lot of
emotions and things that

I tried to do to unpack that.

And for me, it helps
to talk to other folks

who have had to deal
with it, as well.

Station,
this is Houston.

Are you ready for the event?

Houston,
this is Station.

I am ready for the event.

In the midst of all
of this, Victor reached out

to the Black astronauts
to have a call.

I was blown away to
see all of these names

pop up on the screen,

Mae Jemison,
Charlie Bolden,

Guy Bluford.

They were all saying,
"What can we do for you?

How can we help you?
How can we support you?"

And that just, they were
giving me exactly what

I needed by just being
there in fellowship.

That was a really
transformational call for me.

Until the Victor thing happened,

I wasn't talking
to Fred or Guy, or the,

I mean, if I bumped into them,
we would maybe say, "Hi,"

or whatever, but it
wasn't like we were having

some big legacy discussion and,

"Hey, we got your back.
You can do this."

It wasn't like that.

But when Victor went
to space, it changed.

We all recognized how
difficult it is to get where

we have gotten and want to
make sure that you've got

all the support that you can.

We have a little
nickname for that group.

We call them the Afronauts.

And so, when I was able to,
to have the video conference

with the Afronauts, the main
thing that I walked away

from that experience with,
is how important it is

to have that group and
to be actively connected.

Many years ago,
Ed Dwight called me up and

told me that he had been
commissioned to do a memorial

for African-Americans
in Texas, and, uh,

he described the concept from,
you know, slave to space.

On the Texas Memorial,
there's only one message that

I'm about, and it has to do
with the valid place that

African-Americans should have in
this whole American experience,

because every one of my
memorials has a storyline

to let people know
that we are people of action

and when something
has needed to be done,

whether it's for the
larger community,

for our own community,
we've been there.

Ed told me how the
first Blacks arrived in Texas,

also as explorers of
this new territory,

how it led to
eventually the future.

It really represented not
only the development of

this country, but also
where we're headed.

Slavery is a
critically important part of

the idea of this nation.

It was something that we had
to figure out how to overcome

if we were really going to
be the kind of nation that

we think we want to be.

Good morning.

I will start with
Senator Graham.

Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.

The President has nominated
someone extraordinarily

talented and qualified for
the new NASA administrator.

We inspire the next generation
of young Americans to think

big and there is no better
example of what you can do

in America than what Major
General Bolden has achieved.

So, with that, I heartily
recommend his nomination.

Charlie had me at his
Senate hearings, so all of a

sudden all kind of wonderful
things started happening.

I also would like
to take this opportunity to

acknowledge the very special
person, Mr. Ed Dwight,

who while not actually
becoming an astronaut,

he was a trailblazer in
the attempt to break the

color barrier in America's
astronaut program.

Once Charlie Bolden
took the helm,

NASA finally gave me a tag.

They called me a pioneer,
and so that's the name

I'm assigned, a space pioneer.

And I'm an American
citizen who really believes

in the idea that
is this country.

And ideas are
dependent upon people to,

you know, to execute them
or to carry them out.

Black history is
American history.

We forget it at our peril.

Uh,
Victor, can you hear me?

I can.
How you doing?

I'm trying
to hang in there, buddy.

So, Victor, where are you?
Are you in Houston?

VICTOR
I'm in Houston. Yes.

I'm in our Public
Affairs Building.

Oh, gotcha.

But I'm
happy to do this today.

This is like, this
is an honor, yeah.

Yeah.

All right, Mr. Dwight,
are you ready?

I am ready.

Station,
this is Houston.

Are you ready for the event?

Station is
ready for the event.

Station, this is Ike.

Watty, can you hear me?

I've got you
loud and clear, Ike.

How me?

Awesome.
I have you loud and clear.

It's great to talk to you.

And so, Jessica Watkins, I
would love to introduce to you

my good friend and
mentor, Ed Dwight.

Ed, please say, hi, to,

to Jessica or as
we call her, Watty.

Oh, well, hello, Jessica.

This is so exciting to me to
see because back in the day,

uh, they, they were saying
that Blacks are too ignorant

to be flying in space to, uh,

to hold these
important positions.

And I'm smitten, uh, by,
uh, by the fact that

you're up there doing all
these wonderful things.

It is an
honor to meet you.

We are just so grateful for
the path that you laid

for us to follow behind,

so thank you so much for
everything you've done.

Oh my God, thanks
for remembering me.

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.