“No one really knows about that history of the space race.” In the U.S., Bluford was vying with Ronald McNair and Frederick Gregory to be the first Black American in space. Bluford was an Air ...

He flew four space shuttle missions. Bluford's class of 1978 astronauts included two other African-Americans: Ron McNair (who later died on the space shuttle Challenger in 1986) and Fred Gregory ...

1983: Dr Guion S Bluford Jnr, a mission specialist on STS ... it also includes tragedy. Ronald McNair became the second Black person to travel to space after being selected as one of 35 applicants ...

At age nine, Ronald McNair was kicked out of the library for being Black. Today, that same edifice has been named in his honor. Throughout his lifetime, McNair was met with the ugliness of racism ...

South Carolina native Ronald McNair was the second African-American to go into space, and was part of the STS-51L crew that died when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off ...