Was Ronald McNair a Baha?
Dr McNair was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate when he was 28 years old. Dr McNair, an adherent of the Baha’i Faith, was supposed to have been the first person to record a saxophone solo in space aboard the Challenger.
Was Ronald McNair the first black astronaut?
Ronald Erwin McNair was a physicist and one of the first African American astronauts to go into space. He was also the first black astronaut to die on a space mission.
What was Ronald McNair known for?
Ronald McNair was nationally recognized for his work in laser physics and was one of the thirty-five applicants selected by NASA from a pool of ten thousand. In 1984, McNair became the second African-American to make a flight into space. He was a mission specialist on the space shuttle Challenger.
Where is Ronald McNair from?
Lake City, SC
Who was the first black person in space?
Guion Stewart Bluford Jr.
Who was first astronaut?
The Mercury Project suffered some early setbacks, however, and on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in the world’s first manned space flight. Less than one month later, on May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard was successfully launched into space on a suborbital flight.
Who was the most famous astronaut?
Neil Armstrong
How many astronauts have died in space?
A total of 18 people have lost their lives either while in space or in preparation for a space mission, in four separate incidents. Given the risks involved in space flight, this number is surprisingly low. The two worst disasters both involved NASA’s space shuttle.
Were the bodies of the Challenger crew recovered?
In March 1986, the remains of the astronauts were found in the debris of the crew cabin. Though all of the important pieces of the shuttle were retrieved by the time NASA closed its Challenger investigation in 1986, most of the spacecraft remained in the Atlantic Ocean.
Were the Challenger crew killed instantly?
The exact timing of the death of the crew is unknown; several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. By design, the orbiter has no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment at terminal velocity with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable.
Did families of the Challenger sue NASA?
After the 1986 Challenger disaster, four families of the seven astronauts killed reached out-of-court settlements with the Justice Department for a total of $7.7 million. The wife of Challenger pilot Michael Smith sued NASA in 1987.
What went wrong with the Challenger?
The space shuttle broke apart because gasses in the external fuel tank mixed, exploded and tore the space shuttle apart. The external fuel tank exploded after the right solid rocket booster came loose and ruptured the tank.