But Ron persisted, and I am grateful to him to this day and for all of the life and professional learning he shared with me in his too-short time before he was lost in the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy. I was being a naysayer, thinking there was no way I would be accepted.
I might never have had a chance in space were it not for the late great Ron McNair, another African American pioneer in exploration who encouraged me to apply to the astronaut corps. African Americans have been, and will continue to be, key to all of these efforts. We'll visit places we've never been, with people and robots, launch science missions to uncover unfathomable secrets of the universe, and make air travel safer and cleaner here on the home front. We will send humans farther and faster into space. NASA is reinvigorating its focus on research and development to develop technologies that don't exist today. They're developing instruments for spacecraft to peer beyond the edge of our solar system and opening solar arrays on the International Space Station with just a tether holding them to a vehicle moving nearly 17,000 miles per hour. Today, African Americans are scientists, engineers, and astronauts. The shuttle was really instrumental in breaking the color barrier for African Americans in space, and it all happened without a single law being passed. And, thanks to the Space Shuttle Program, and NASA's cross-disciplinary exploration missions, African Americans and many others have had access to space and also to science and technological careers. But through the efforts of many people of all races, our nation has changed. When I was a young man, my service as NASA's first African American Administrator under the Nation's first Black president would have been nearly unthinkable. Marine Corps and in many roles at NASA, currently as head of the nation's space program. But I am fortunate to have made the journey and to have had many opportunities to serve my nation in a 34-year career with the U.S. It's a long way from the segregated south to low Earth orbit.
#CHARLES BOLDEN SERIES#
note: This post is part of the Celebrating Black History Month series that highlights the contributions of African Americans who are contributing to the President's vision of winning the future though their work.
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