*“The Space Race,” a must-see documentary, will premiere on National Geographic on February 12, and stream on Hulu and Disney+ from February 13. The extraordinary film was shown at several festivals, including the Tribeca and Urbanworld Film festivals.
I caught up with astronaut Leland Melvin, an executive producer of “The Space Race,” at the Urbanworld Film Festival and asked what was his greatest challenge putting together such a monumental movie. “I think it was getting all the Black astronauts that we wanted to put in the movie to buy into the story,” he said, “because I think many times there are so many people that come at you wanting to make a movie, a doc, or something but it’s not funded. Or you know, half-baked.”
“But this was already pre-funded with Disney and Frank Marshall. We came in legit and this was a story that had never been told like this,” Melvin added. “The project brought us together even more. Now we have an email distribution, which we never had before. Now with the new technology and Zoom, we can have these conversations and say, ‘Hey, are you okay? What do you need us to do for your family while you’re in space?’ Letting them know we’ve got their backs.”
Melvin, Guion Bluford, Charles Bolden, Ed Dwight, Victor Glover, Frederick Gregory, Bernard Harris, Leland Melvin, Ronald McNair, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Jessica Watkins are among those featured in “The Space Race.” Bluford is the first Black astronaut to fly in space, and the first to receive the U.S. Air Force Command Pilot Astronaut Wings.
Before Bluford’s history-making takeoff, I attended the press conference for him and his crew at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. After the press conference, I interviewed Bluford in his office there. On that momentous occasion, the mild-mannered military man’s only concern was “doing a professional job.” Bluford told me, “I’m really looking forward to this mission because there is a lot of good work to be done, and the mission will be historical in several aspects.”
“The Space Race” weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars. In “The Space Race,” directors Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Cortés profile the pioneering Black pilots, scientists, and engineers who joined NASA to serve their country in space, even as their country failed to achieve equality for them back on Earth. As institutions and racists try to erase and rewrite Black history, this exciting, entertaining, and informative film has a prominent place in cinema.
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