I Was Poised to be the First Black Astronaut. I Never Made it to Space. | 'Almost Famous' by Op-Docs

Video Description

This is the story of Ed Dwight Jr., who was invited by his country to train to be the first African-American astronaut. Back in 1963, it was hot news. But the United States never sent Dwight to space. For decades, he has maintained that he was discriminated against during his time at the Aerospace Research Pilot School, a prerequisite to NASA run by the legendary pilot Chuck Yeager. Dwight is now a prolific artist, building memorials and creating public art honoring African-American history. His footprints cannot be found on the moon. But his fingerprints can be found on sculptures across the country. “Almost Famous” is a special Op-Docs series of short films directed by Ben Proudfoot featuring people who nearly made history — only to fall short. These are tales of overcoming disappointment at its most epic, from an astronaut who never flew to a superstar who never was. See more from the "Almost Famous" series: https://nyti.ms/36STJx3 Credits Director: Ben Proudfoot Featuring: Edward Dwight Jr. Producers: Gabriel Berk Godoi, Abby Lynn Kang Davis Co-Producer: Jeremy Lambert Cinematography: Brandon Somerhalder Editor: Nick Garnham Wright Composer: Nicholas Jacobson-Larson Assistant Editor: Lisset Mendoza First Assistant Cameras: Jana McLain, Joey Schusler Colorist: Stephen Derluguian Re-Recording Mixer: Sean Higgins Archival Coordinator: Sarah Stewart On-Set Digital Archivist: Tyler Somerhalder Associate Producers: Jaimie Woo, Caley Fox Shannon Post-Production Supervisor: Dillon Brown Post-Production Coordinator: Elizabeth Brooke Supervising Editor: Federico Conforti Sound Effects Editor: Tom Boykin Additional Orchestration: Roger Julià Satorra Scoring Mixer: Brad Haehnel More from The New York Times Video: Subscribe: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n Watch all of our videos here: http://nytimes.com/video Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nytvideo Twitter: https://twitter.com/nytvideo ---------- Op-Docs is the New York Times’ award-winning series of short documentaries by independent filmmakers. Learn more about Op-Docs and how to submit to the series. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@NYTopinion).