The Space Race is a new documentary coming out next year that centers around the stories of Black astronauts coming up through NASA. This week, in honor of World Space Week (happy World Space Week, to those who celebrate!), National Geographic has released a short video about one of those astronauts: Ed Dwight.
Dwight was selected by John F. Kennedy in 1961 to become the first Black astronaut. Dwight ultimately wasn’t selected by NASA, but he was an inspiration for those who came after him. The clip has him talking with two other Black astronauts—Leland Melvin and Victor Glover—about his lived experience.
Here’s the synopsis for the larger, ninety-one-minute documentary:
The Space Race weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden among many others. In The Space Race, directors Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza profile the pioneering Black pilots, scientists, and engineers who joined NASA to serve their country in space, even as their country failed to achieve equality for them back on Earth. From 1963, when the assassination of JFK thwarted Captain Ed Dwight’s quest to reach the moon, to 2020, when the echoes of the civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd reached the International Space Station, the story of African Americans at NASA is a tale of world events colliding with the aspirations of uncommon men. 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.
The Space Race is directed by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Cortés and, in addition to Dwight, Glover, and Melvin, features Guion Bluford, Charles Bolden, Frederick Gregory, Bernard Harris, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, and Jessica Watkins.
It will become available on Disney+ and National Geographic Channel sometime in February 2024. Here’s a poster for us to gaze at while we wait:
