By Jake Coyle | The Associated Press Former NASA astronaut Ed Dwight poses for a portrait to promote the National Geographic documentary film “The Space
It wasn’t until 1983 that the first African American, Guion Bluford, reached space. But two decades earlier, Ed Dwight found himself at a fulcrum of 20th Century American history, where the space race and the struggle for social justice converged. An accomplished Air Force pilot, Dwight was groomed by John F. Kennedy s White House to be the first Black astronaut. But in training, he faced discrimination that detoured his path. In recent years, Dwight s story has received renewed attention. Now 90, he s widely celebrated as a pioneer to all of the Black astronauts that followed him.
NEW YORK Ed Dwight grew up in segregated 1930s Kansas on a farm on the edge of town. An airfield was within walking distance, and, as a boy, he d often go t