“The Space Race weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden among many others,” National Geographic Documentary Films said in a statement.
We attended the world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and it was the perfect blend of inspirational, hopeful, frustrating, and sad. The film will be available exclusively on National Geographic Channels and Disney+. No release date has been set.
“Addressing the racial injustice within NASA across several decades, the film will follow these pioneers who fought to overcome not just the obstacles of their astronaut training but also the challenges that stemmed from the racial prejudice and discrimination present at the time. The Space Race will highlight how their perseverance challenged the definition of ‘the right stuff,’ even when their stories were omitted from the history books.” Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president of documentary films for National Geographic said, “We feel honored to give these trailblazers center stage in the narrative around U.S. space exploration.”
Directors Cortés and Hurtado de Mendoza said in a statement:
“The exploration of space has always been a place of hope and inspiration. From space, we look out into the Universe and learn about our place in it, but we also look back at Earth and learn about ourselves. A select group of astronauts are the only human beings who’ve ever seen all of humanity from this unique point of view — with its infinite possibilities and its debilitating flaws. We couldn’t have found a more supportive partner than National Geographic Documentary Films to tell the story of these brave pioneers in space exploration who opened the space program to people of color.”
The Q&A that followed offered the audience the opportunity to listen to the directors and film participants Ed Dwight, Leland Melvin, and Victor Glover talk about their experiences on and off camera. From the 1963 assassination of JFK that thwarted Captain Ed Dwight’s quest to reach the moon, to 2020 when echoes of civil unrest after the killing of George Floyd reached the international space station, the story of African Americans in NASA is the tale of aspirations of the uncommon man.
An audience member asked the astronauts ways in which we can help and the reply was simple – through conversation and advocacy for telling the side of history that will help propel this country into the future. Glover has been assigned as Pilot of NASA’s Artemis II mission. His accomplishments have been made possible through his hard work but also because of the struggle Ed Dwight made in the 60s, paving the way for astronauts such as Glover.
The Space Race is a must-watch movie and a testament to the burden of breaking barriers on and off the planet.
