The History Room
Ed Dwight was in line to be the first Black astronaut, but history had other ideas...
Ed Dwight was in line to be the first Black astronaut, but history had other ideas...
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In the 1960s, the U.S. was embroiled in a tense space race with the Soviet Union — and was losing. By the start of the decade, the Soviets had already sent the first satellite and the first man into space. So, on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made a pledge to the nation: The U.S. would land a man on the moon before the decade ended. This challenge excited most Americans, but many Black people resented money being poured into the space race that could have gone to aid the cause of civil rights and help impoverished Black communities. At the same time, the Soviets were pointing to the racial inequality in the U.S. to show the superiority of the Communist system. In an attempt to counter the Soviets and to increase support for the space race among Black Americans, some began urging the administration to send a Black person to space. Edward R. Murrow, then Director of the U.S. Information Agency wrote a memo to the White House saying, "Why don't we put the first non-white man in space?"
Edward J. Dwight, Jr. was a 27-year-old Air Force Captain at the time.Originally from Kansas City, he loved flying from a young age — so much so that he'd go on walks to the local airport with his mother every day. "I was the only Black officer pilot just about every base I was stationed," Dwight recalled. And although being only 5 foot four, "I got award after award and I was just happy as could be. I couldn't have had a better life."
On November 4, 1961, he got a letter inviting him to join the astronaut training program. Unsure of what to do, he relied on his mother for advice. "She was telling me some things about how the race could be uplifted by example and inspiration," Dwight recalled. "My mother was never wrong, so I just went for it."
Dwight accepted the invitation, and was sent to the Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California to begin training. The most successful trainees would be chosen to become astronauts. "I had never faced competition like that," Dwight said of the training. Students would be put through grueling tests so instructors could study their physical and mental limits. "They'd blow your eardrums out to see how long it would take you to recover," Dwight recalled. "Those are the kinds of fascinating things they did to your body to see how far they could stretch it before it kind of broke."
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/05/11096...astronaut-moon
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