Ed Dwight Jr: The first black astronaut who never flew

[Blue_Tires]

Around minute 34 it starts to get really weird...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07h39xg

[underpants]

1. 👀

Cool. Hopefully watching later

[Blue_Tires]

2. more background

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/ed-dwight-was-set-to-be-the-first-black-astronaut-heres-why-that-never-happened.html

https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/ed-dwight-39

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/05/ed-dwight-jr-first-black-man-trained-astronaut-apollo-11/

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/chasing-moon-ed-dwight-first-african-american-candidate-space/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/2019/07/18/former-apollo-trainees-career-took-off-different-direction/

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Thanks! This one is quite well done:

Ed Dwight Was Set to Be the First Black Astronaut. Here’s Why That Never Happened.

For a brief moment, the civil rights movement and the space race came together.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/ed-dwight-was-set-to-be-the-first-black-astronaut-heres-why-that-never-happened.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

[kosmograd]

5. Huh? "Gravitational force could pull blood from your eyes"

Uh, what's she talking about? "Gravitational force could pull blood from your eyes, rendering you sightless. "

[kosmograd]

6. NY Times -- Astronaut doesn't NEED piloting skills?

Is this even true? If an astronaut candidate believed he'd just be able to passively ride in a remote-controlled craft, would he have the skills to take control if needed? Something doesn't add up.

ludorph quote:
Riding a rocket had little in common with flying a plane, aside from being airborne. “The basic thing you have to understand,” Dwight explained recently, “is everything that happens on that spaceship, from the time you crawl into that seat to the time it touches down, is controlled from the ground. There’s no one thing that makes a good astronaut. I don’t know any person with determination and will that can’t go to space.”

[Blue_Tires]

8. There were differing schools of thought early in the space program

the USSR for example didn't allow their early cosmonauts to do ANYTHING -- The whole show was controlled from the ground and the cosmonauts were basically passengers. The USA was planning to go a similar path but ultimately decided to allow a margin for some manual control by the guys in the capsule.

[kosmograd]

12. role of pilots

From the first orbital flights, Mercury astronauts had to override or supplement automated systems. Remote control was impractical due to only rare space-to-ground radio contact. If Dwight really believed that the astronaut needed to only be a passive passenger, that would have made a poor impression in his NASA interview [if he even got that far].

[kosmograd]

3. more

also https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/learning/film-club-almost-famous-the-lost-astronaut.html

[kosmograd]

7. Who really exploited and victimized him?

No question it was an ordeal on him, but could it be he was as much [or more] a victim of cynical White House electioneering manipulation as of non-existent ''astronaut racism'' [as Wikipedia and contemporary political exploiters called it]?.

[Blue_Tires]

9. "non-existent" racism?

Seriously??

Welcome to the site, by the way.

[kosmograd]

10. still looking for real evidence

The narrative refers to a statement from USAF officer Chuck Yeager that nobody has ever claimed to have heard, even second hand. Dwight graduated on schedule and got a good test pilot assignment -- what's the problem? And where's there any evidence for any NASA astronaut misbehavior?

[Blue_Tires]

11. Your google skills disabled or something?

You want further evidence get out there and find it... Or go to Denver and talk to Dwight yourself.

Why is racism in 1961 so impossible for you to believe??

[kosmograd]

14. not 'further' evidence, but ANY evidence, please

"You want further evidence get out there and find it.."

Isn't the accuser responsible for providing the evidence?

As to 'further' evidence, one quibble: I'm asking for ANY evidence Yeager made such a statement.

A told me that B told him that C told him that D said it -- uh, under what school of jurisprudence or journalism is that considered 'evidence'?

[kosmograd]

15. still hoping to be shown evidence....

Gosh, I didn't mean to shut down this conversation by just asking for evidence for accusations against Yeager. Hello?

[kosmograd]

16. So nobody can find ANY evidence.....

…. so I guess silence means nobody can prove any of those racism accusations against NASA and Yeager?

This is my shocked face: 8-0

[kosmograd]

17. Dwight himself doesn't blame Yeager, why should YOU?

Edward J. Dwight [March 2, 2020] == “I never accused Chuck Yeager of causing my failure to fly in space. It was the political environment of the day that transcended anything that Chuck Yeager had an impact on.”

https://www.facebook.com/NPR/posts/10159027154926756

[kosmograd]

13. witness, please

"Why is racism in 1961 so impossible for you to believe??"

Why is a third-hand hearsay rumor adequate evidence? Dwight said he heard from a guy who said he heard from a guy who said Yeager said it. What's the chance of distortion/elaboration along that hearsay pathway?

OK, so he's a white guy in 1962, so third hand accusations of racism automatically are proof enough?

Can I presume that you are thereby implicitly conceding that there IS no other evidence that this was what Yeager had actually said?