(***1/2)
They’re heroes. Space race pioneers. Afronauts. Black folks who powered their way into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and made a path for others.
NASA, a United States government agency, is responsible for science and technology related to air and space. It’s diverse now, but that wasn’t always the case. The integration of this institution, as with other fundamental organizations, from schools and corporations to sports and politics, started with a few brave souls. Then over the course of history, change happened, opportunities arose, and inclusion took hold.
That’s what this extremely perceptive, enlightening and vital documentary, by filmmakers Lisa Cortes (Little Richard: I Am Everything) and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (Rulon Gardener Won’t Die), does so thoroughly. It archives the first moves by courageous forerunners, the resistance they confronted and the support systems that surrounded them as they built infrastructures that welcomed others.
The OG in the 60-year-old history of Blacks in the space program is Captain Edward Joseph Dwight. Dwight was a former captain in the United States Air Force and a test pilot. Facts and folklore have it that the National Urban League’s Whitney Young put a bug in President John. F. Kennedy’s ear that for the Black population to believe that they could achieve in science and aeronautics they needed a role model. JFK heard him and acted.
The legendary Chuck Yaeger, the first pilot in history to exceed the speed of sound, led the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), an Air Force training program that sent its graduates into the astronauts corps. Yaeger was implored by reps for Robert Kennedy to accept Dwight into his program. To the outside world, he was an all-American good guy hero. According to Dwight, the scuttlebutt he heard was that the ARPS leader plotted against him. Yaeger told his corps: “…they’re trying to cram a n—-r down our throats.”
Dwight’s entry into ARPS, in the early 1960s, was met with opposition, harassment and ostracization. While he experienced that degradation, he was being promoted around the country as the first black astronaut, a beacon of hope and a symbol of change. What he encountered wasn’t as rosy as the smiling family photos, fawning press releases and magazine cover stories.
Dwight’s experience is part of a pattern the African American community recognizes all too well. Whether it’s Jackie Robinson, President Obama or Althea Gibson the formula is the same. Take a hit for the team, show courage, survive, hopefully thrive and others will follow. In that way The Space Race is specifically about astronauts but generally about how African Americans experience progress.
The footage feels like someone is giving viewers a grad course in Black astronauts, Afrofuturistic theory and lessons in perseverance. Hearing from 89-year-old Dwight, who is still around to tell his story, is a miracle considering Young, Kennedy and Yaeger have passed away. Then discovering the advances and achievements that subsequent Black space travelers have made is like breathing rare, fresh air.
Astronauts Guion Bluford (first black man in space in 1978), Charles Bolden (four space shuttle missions), and Victor Glover (Flight Engineer on the International Space Station for Expedition 64) have much to say. Glimpses of Nichelle Nichols of TV’s Star Trek fame advocating for people of color and women to become part of the space program are equally inspiring. She bridged fantasy with real life voyages. The icing on the cake is viewing Jessica Watkins (Ph.D. in geology) as she floats around the International Space Station, where in April 2022 she became the first Black woman to complete a long-term mission. Collectively, their words are thoughtful, measured, heartfelt and precious.
Footage from the ‘60s up until present day is illuminating. Interviews are masterfully conducted and rich with personal experiences and astute perspectives by wise veterans. Tangential incidents, from JFK’s assassination to the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy and civil rights uprisings, are woven into a tapestry that is never less than reflective.
Trailblazers pay a cost. And as this uplifting documentary shines a light on those who sacrificed so others could follow, audiences will experience a sense of great pride for these heroes, African American history and a country that is in constant change as it learns to correct its errors.
The Space Race should be required viewing for every kid in a STEM program. For everyone interested in aeronautics, Black history and what it takes to make our best and brightest ready for the future.
The Space Race premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival.
Visit NNPA News Wire Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.