Space RACE

Space-Race: The Development of DIversity at NASA

1960s America symbolized a decade of change, fomenting ideas of a counter culture revolution, the threat of nuclear annihilation and outspoken black leaders from Martin Luther King to Muhammad Ali. For some, however, the most threatening image was a black man in a space suit. The first black men to become astronauts have been erased from the pantheon of space explorers.

Much is known about famed test pilot turned astronaut John Glenn, who in 1962 became the first American to orbit the earth but it's a well-guarded secret that in 1963 President John Kennedy personally appointed black test pilot Edward Dwight, Jr to become America's first black astronaut. Dwight subsequently washed out of the space program following Kennedy's assassination. In June 1967, the brilliant Air Force pilot and chemical engineer, Dr. Robert H. Lawrence was chosen for an 'Astro Spy' program to gather intelligence on Russian military capability from space.

In December 1967 Dr. Lawrence died in a plane crash in 'unusual' circumstances. The first African American would not reach space until 1983.

SPACE RACE is a documentary film about these men and what happened to their careers when the Cold War clashed with the Civil Rights Movement.