Leland Melvin Speaks on Race and Space as a Black Astronaut

"More people need to know about this history," Black Astronaut Leland Melvin speaks about race and space. Gizmodo chats with former Astronaut Leland Melvin about politics at NASA during President Kennedy's re-election campaign in National Geographic's The Space Race documentary.
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[@jimbrown5091]

I'm 49 now...I didn't learn about Ed Dwight until I was...maybe 46 or 47. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. So grateful for men and women of Astronaut Group 8 showing us space wasn't just for white men.

[@JamesOberg]

In hindsight, what should NASA have done differently in 1963?

[@hot5835]

What? Why is it's ALWAYS A BLACK ISSUE?

[@tenzynorsang8877]

Don’t understand this obsession with race. Black people, if you wanna be the next astronaut or pilot, then study hard, work hard and no one is going to stop you from being the next astronaut or pilot in today’s America. It’s not 1820 anymore.

[@jimbrown5091]

Do you REALLY think there were no black fighter pilots or aeronautical engineers in 1959 when the Mercury program began?

[@AP-pk6mk]

Are you an idiot? Literally segregation was still in place when the first crop of black astronauts even got their chance. All black astronauts and candidates to ever live are all still alive besides the 3 who died in flight accidents. Many of them *remember* the Jim crow laws. So don't give me that BS that "nobody will stop you". Most people did try to stop them. I am getting a PhD in physics, am black and may one day go to space. I study hard and am proud of it. But what I can't stand is lies and historical inaccuracies