Edward Dwight is finally going to space.
In the coming weeks, when conditions permit, Dwight will be part of a six-person crew heading beyond Earth's orbit on the latest mission for Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin's seventh crewed flight will feature a variety of adventurers, including a venture capitalist, a French craft beer entrepreneur, a former accountant whose doctors told him he would go blind, and former Air Force captain Dwight. Sixty years ago, he was chosen to become the first black man to orbit the Earth, and then passed on.
Dwight ended up participating in the astronaut training program at Edwards Air Force Base in California under the command of Chuck Yeager in the early 1960s. (In 1947, General Yeager became the first test pilot to break the sound barrier and died in 2020.) Mr. Dwight was a charismatic and handsome test pilot who was an asset to an administration trying to lead the civil rights movement. It was a PR dream. President Kennedy was his supporter, but General Yeager was unimpressed. According to a well-written history, Mr. Yeager described Mr. Dwight as an average pilot who was put on the A-list for political reasons. Mr. Dwight gave a different testimony, recalling that General Yeager was a racist who wanted him removed. His height (5 feet 4 inches) was also a disadvantage, Dwight recalled.
After Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Dwight was not selected to go to space. An aspiring astronaut, he left the Air Force in 1966 and went on to become a successful restauranteur and real estate developer in Colorado, eventually becoming a renowned sculptor of notable figures in black history. became.
In conversations over several months, Dwight spoke to The New York Times about his impending spaceflight. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
What do you think about going to space?
It is the culmination of a long life's events. I thought this would be a great end to a fascinating story about everything I've been through and my reactions to adversity.
Everything I've ever done has been an uphill battle. Joining the military and becoming an Air Force pilot, being chosen by the president of the United States to be the first black astronaut, and facing all kinds of obstacles during my time in office. On that program. But I was performing well, and that's why they say, “Oh my god, this guy is getting things done,” and my blackness and shortness don't mean much. There was no.
Then, after leaving the Air Force, he came to Colorado and became a big businessman before starting his career in art at the age of 45. My life has been all about getting things done. This is the culmination of that.
What emotion is controlling you now, is it anger? Are you feeling lucky? Or something else?
I'm not mad and I'm not lucky. Neither of those things are on my mind. When you get angry, your brain stops working. I couldn't even think of being angry or disappointed about something. I think that's my psychological structure. When I encountered people who might have failed me, I justified it like this: “Why did they feel that way?”
As a child, Chuck Yeager was taught that black people were ignorant, stupid, and incapable of terrible things. He and I talked about it, so no, I didn't feel angry at him. A man is a product of his background and had no intention of changing his attitude.
The only thing I could do was show Jaeger that I could do and transcend whatever was expected of me. He could never kick me out or kick me out.
Why would he want to kick you out?
We had this conversation and the guy pulled out a piece of paper he had, a yellow folded lined piece of paper with all the names written on it. And he said: “Captain Dwight, I got his 100 and his 50.” This list includes white boys, and all of these white boys are better qualified than you to be a test pilot. Masu. ”
And I say this. “So you're saying all these white people are better?” Every street in Edwards is named after a dead test pilot, and those guys were all white and dead . They must have made a mistake somewhere for a street to be named after them. Don't bring it up to me about how smart and resourceful and intelligent and capable white people are over black people. ”
There were 17 people in my class, and I finished in 7th place. I had to remind him of that.
He faced many obstacles on his way to space.
Power brokers had no intention of giving black people or women the final frontier.
In other words, people who were supposed to fly into space are reaching the end of their careers at the age of 90. Some people think that's justice. But I don't think so. It seems too late for it to be justice. My philosophy is that everything has a time and place. This is a natural event that must occur at some point.
What do you think you'll see if you go up there?
During my flight test days, I went to such altitudes that I could see the curvature of the Earth, the entire landmass, and saw the Earth as a large ball. But I'm curious. We are lying in a capsule and there are large panoramic windows. I'll definitely put this in my gee-whiz file.
May I add something?
America is the guiding light of the world. Anyone thinking of running for national office should have at least three circumnavigations around the globe as a prerequisite. They should look at how valuable it is, how sacred it is, and how fragile it is.