NASA1 / 12
Astronaut Guion Bluford onboard STS-8. (credit: NASA)
National Geographic for Disney/Keero Birla2 / 12
Directors Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza behind-the-scenes at NASA Glenn Research Center. (National Geographic for Disney/Keero Birla)
National Geographic for Disney/Keero Birla3 / 12
Directors Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza pose with Guy Bluford. (National Geographic for Disney/Keero Birla)
National Geographic/Ryan Dearth4 / 12
Directors Lisa Cortés, left, and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, right, pose with Ed Dwight during an interview in Denver. (credit: National Geographic/Ryan Dearth)
Public Domain5 / 12
Air Force Captain Ed Dwight's official portrait. (credit: public domain)
Courtesy of Ed Dwight6 / 12
Air Force Captain Ed Dwight in the cockpit at the beginning of his flight training in 1954. (Courtesy of Ed Dwight)
Courtesy of Ed Dwight7 / 12
Air Force Captain Ed Dwight. (Courtesy of Ed Dwight)
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Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, one of NASA's three 41-B mission specialists, participates in a training session in the Shuttle one-g trainer in the Johnson Space Center's mockup and integrating laboratory on June 14, 1983. He stands at the aft flight deck, where controls for the remote manipulator system (RMS) arm are located. (credit: NASA)
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Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, 41-B mission specialist, doubles as "director" for a movie being "produced" aboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Challenger in February 1984. McNairís name tag ("Cecil B. McNair"), beret and slate are all humorous props for application of a serious piece of cargo on this eight day flight - the Cinema 360 camera. Two of the cameras were carried aboard the Challenger to provide a test for motion picture photography in a unique format designed especially for planetarium viewing. This camera was located in the crew cabin area and a second was stowed in a getaway special (GAS) canister in the payload bay. (credit: NASA)
NASA / Public Domain10 / 12
Charlie Bolden on the shuttle Columbia. (credit: NASA / Public Domain)
NASA / Public Domain11 / 12
Guy Bluford on STS-53. (credit: NASA / Public Domain)
NASA/Kim Shiflett12 / 12
STS-122 Mission Specialist Leland Melvin tests his gloves for a final fitting before space shuttle Atlantis' launch. Atlantis will carry the Columbus Lab, Europe?s largest contribution to the construction of the International Space Station. It will support scientific and technological research in a microgravity environment. Columbus, a program of ESA, is a multifunctional, pressurized laboratory that will be permanently attached to Node 2 of the space station to carry out experiments in materials science, fluid physics and biosciences, as well as to perform a number of technological applications. (Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)
