The Space Race

THE SPACE RACE uncovers the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers and scientists that became astronauts.

The bright dreams of Afrofuturism become reality in The Space Race, turning science fiction into science fact and forever redefining what “the right stuff” looks like, giving us new heroes to celebrate and a fresh history to explore.

by National Geographic Documentary Films

Astronaut Guion Bluford onboard STS-8. (credit: NASA)

Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, one of NASA’s three 41-B mission specialists, participates in a training session in the Shuttle one-g trainer in the Johnson Space Center’s mockup and integrating laboratory on June 14, 1983. He stands at the aft flight deck, where controls for the remote manipulator system (RMS) arm are located. (credit: NASA)

Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, 41-B mission specialist, doubles as “director” for a movie being “produced” aboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Challenger in February 1984. McNairís name tag (“Cecil B. McNair”), beret and slate are all humorous props for application of a serious piece of cargo on this eight day flight – the Cinema 360 camera. Two of the cameras were carried aboard the Challenger to provide a test for motion picture photography in a unique format designed especially for planetarium viewing. This camera was located in the crew cabin area and a second was stowed in a getaway special (GAS) canister in the payload bay. (credit: NASA)

Charlie Bolden on the shuttle Columbia. (credit: NASA / Public Domain)

STS-122 Mission Specialist Leland Melvin tests his gloves for a final fitting before space shuttle Atlantis’ launch. Atlantis will carry the Columbus Lab, Europe’s largest contribution to the construction of the International Space Station. It will support scientific and technological research in a microgravity environment. Columbus, a program of ESA, is a multifunctional, pressurized laboratory that will be permanently attached to Node 2 of the space station to carry out experiments in materials science, fluid physics and biosciences, as well as to perform a number of technological applications. (Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

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The Space Race

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