Ronald McNair

Ronald Erwin McNair was born on October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina. At age nine, displaying calm courage under racial segregation, young Ronald refused to leave the public library when the librarian called the police because he wanted to check out science and aviation books; the police and his mother persuaded the librarian to let him check out the books. That very building is today named the Ronald E. McNair Life History Center.

McNair graduated as valedictorian from Carver High School in 1967 and earned his B.S. in physics magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University in 1971. Enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he earned his PhD in laser physics in 1976. A fifth-degree black belt in taekwondo and accomplished jazz saxophonist, McNair conducted cutting-edge laser research at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu before being selected by NASA in 1978 as part of the first class of Space Shuttle astronauts.

In February 1984, McNair flew on STS-41-B aboard Challenger as a mission specialist, operating the robotic Canadarm and becoming the second African-American in space. On his second mission, STS-51-L on January 28, 1986, McNair planned to record a saxophone solo in orbit composed for him by Jean-Michel Jarre. Tragically, seventy-three seconds after launch, Challenger suffered a structural failure, claiming the lives of McNair and his six crewmates. Posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, McNair's legacy lives on in the nationwide Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, which prepares low-income and first-generation minority students for doctoral study.