The Almost Astronaut

In the 1960s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were competing in a tense space race — and the U.S. was losing. The Soviets had already sent the first satellite and the first man to space. So, in 1961, President Kennedy pledged to do something neither country had done: send a man to the moon by the end of the decade.

The challenge excited most Americans, but many Black Americans resented the president for pouring money into space travel when it could've gone to Black communities. Plus, the Soviet Union were increasingly propagandizing the U.S.' discrimation against Black Americans, in order to show the superiority of the communist system.

So, the U.S. came up with an idea that would counter the Soviet narrative and win over Black Americans: sending the first Black person to space.