Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D. (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was an African-American
physicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
astronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. McNair perished during the launch of the
Space Shuttle ChallengerSpace Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia being the first. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on January 28, 1986, resulting...
on mission
STS-51-LSTS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time a civilian had flown aboard the Space Shuttle...
.
Ronald Ervin McNair, the second African American to fly in space, was born October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina. In 1971, he received a bachelor's degree in physics, magna cum laude, from North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro).
Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D. (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was an African-American
physicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
astronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. McNair perished during the launch of the
Space Shuttle ChallengerSpace Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia being the first. Its maiden flight was on April 4, 1983, and it completed nine missions before breaking apart 73 seconds after the launch of its tenth mission, STS-51-L on January 28, 1986, resulting...
on mission
STS-51-LSTS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time a civilian had flown aboard the Space Shuttle...
.
Ronald Ervin McNair, the second African American to fly in space, was born October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina. In 1971, he received a bachelor's degree in physics, magna cum laude, from North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro). In 1976, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ronald McNair was nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics; selected as one of thirty-five applicants from a pool of ten thousand for the astronaut program in 1978; received three honorary doctorates, a score of fellowships and commendations; achieved a black belt in karate; and was an accomplished saxophonist.
Ronald McNair died on January 28, 1986, in a fiery explosion nine miles above the Atlantic Ocean along with six other crew members aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
Death
After graduation from MIT, he became a staff physicist at the
Hughes Research LabHRL Laboratories , was the research arm of the Hughes Aircraft Company. It was established in 1960 in Malibu as a premiere research center...
in
Malibu, CaliforniaMalibu is an incorporated city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population is 12,575....
. During the 1970s,
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
recruited minority candidates for their space program. McNair was chosen for the program in 1978, and flew on
STS-41-BSTS-41-B was the tenth space shuttle mission, and the fourth flight for Challenger. Following STS-9, the flight numbering system for Space Shuttle missions was changed. Thus, the next flight, instead of being designated STS-11, became STS 41-B...
aboard
Challenger in February 1984, as a mission specialist.
Following this mission, he was selected for
STS-51-LSTS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time a civilian had flown aboard the Space Shuttle...
, which launched in January 1986. McNair was a saxophonist, and before the mission he worked with composer
Jean Michel JarreJean-Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is regarded as a pioneer in the electronic, synthpop, ambient and New Age genres, as well as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music which feature lights, laser displays and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon...
on a piece of music. It was intended that he would record his saxophone solo on board the Challenger, making it the first piece of music played in space. However, the flight
ended in disasterThe Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, United States, at 11:39...
after two
Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs)The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters are the pair of large solid rockets used by the space shuttle during the first two minutes of powered flight. Together they provide about 83% of liftoff thrust for the Space Shuttle. They are located on either side of the orange external propellant tank...
broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its entire crew. Subsequently, the piece was renamed
Ron's Piece.
Public honors
A variety of public places and people have been renamed in honor of McNair.
- The crater McNair
McNair is a small lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. It lies within the double-ringed Apollo basin, inside the eastern part of the interior ring. Named after Ronald McNair, one of the seven astronauts who perished in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger, it has partly merged...
on the MoonThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
is named in his honor.
- Watson Chapel Jr. High was renamed the R. McNair Jr. High School in his honor.
- Ronald McNair Boulevard in Lake City, South Carolina
Lake City is a city in Florence County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 6,478 at the 2000 census...
is named in his honor and lies near other streets named for astronauts who perished in the Challenger crash.
- The U.S. Department of Education offers the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program
The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, also referred to as the McNair Scholars Program, is a United States Department of Education initiative with a goal of increasing "attainment of PhD degrees by students from underrepresented segments of society,” including first-generation...
for students with low income, first generation students, and/or underrepresented students in graduate education for doctorate education.
- In Florence, South Carolina
Florence is the largest city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. This 1997 All-America City finalist, with its historic homes and medical center towers, came together to form a cultural center for the northeastern portion of South Carolina. The city population...
, there is a Ronald McNair Math and Science Center at the Francis Marion UniversityFrancis Marion University is a state-supported liberal arts university located seven miles east of Florence, South Carolina, USA...
.
- Several K-12 schools have also been named after McNair.
- Ronald E. McNair Middle School in Lake City, South Carolina
Lake City is a city in Florence County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 6,478 at the 2000 census...
was renamed from Carver High School in his honor (he was a high school graduate of the facility).
- Dr. Ronald Ervin McNair Academic High School in Jersey City
Jersey City is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the population of Jersey City was 240,055, making it New Jersey's second-largest city, behind Newark. As of the Census Bureau's 2007 estimate, the population had grown to 242,389...
, New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, and to the east by the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, the Arthur Kill, Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and...
- Ronald McNair Elementary School in Germantown, Maryland
- Ronald Ervin McNair High School in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the state of Georgia, as well as the urban core of one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States....
- Ronald McNair Middle School in Decatur, Georgia
- Ronald McNair Middle School in College Park, Georgia
- Ronald McNair Elementary School in University City, Missouri
- Ronald Ervin McNair Elementary School in Denton
Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the city's population was 119,454, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...
, TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
(Denton ISDDenton Independent School District, sometimes shortened to Denton ISD, is a school district based in Denton, Texas. The district covers all or parts of the following cities - Denton, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Corinth, Cross Roads, Double Oak, Lincoln Park, Oak Point, and Shady Shores...
)
- Ronald McNair Middle School in Rockledge, Florida
Rockledge is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 20,170 at the 2000 census. As of 2008, the estimated population according to the U.S. Census Bureau is 24,747...
- Ronald E. McNair Elementary School in Dallas, Texas
Dallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
(Dallas ISDThe Dallas Independent School District is a school district based in Dallas, Texas . Dallas ISD, which operates schools in much of Dallas County, is the second largest school district in Texas and the twelfth largest in the United States.- Location and area :Dallas ISD covers of land and most of...
)
- Ronald McNair Middle Schoolhttp://www.ravenswood.k12.ca.us/schools/ronald-mcnair-academy/ in East Palo Alto, California
California is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
- Ronald Ervin McNair High School in Stockton, California
- The Ronald McNair School in Cambria Heights, New York
New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
- McNair Elementary School in Compton, California.
- Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School (MAHS) in Jersey City, NJ.
- A building on the Willowridge High School
Willowridge High School can refer to:*Willowridge High School *Willowridge High School...
campus in Houston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States and the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2008 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million within an area of 600 square miles . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of...
is named in honor of Dr. McNair.
- There is a memorial in the Ronald McNair Park in Brooklyn, New York in his honor.http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigmap/brooklyn/crownheights/mcnairpark/index.htm http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=12489.
- The Ronald E. McNair Space Theater inside the Davis Planetarium in downtown Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County , but the city also contains areas in Madison and Rankin Counties...
is named in his honor.
- The Naval ROTC building on the campus of Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is named in his honor.
- The Engineering building at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC is named in his honor.
- The McNair Building at MIT houses the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.
- The McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program, which operates at 179 campuses in the U.S. (April 7), awards research money and internships to first-generation and otherwise underrepresented students in preparation for graduate work. http://www.ed.gov/programs/triomcnair/index.html
See also
- Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, United States, at 11:39...
- Rendez-vous Houston
Rendez-vous Houston was a concert performed by musician Jean Michel Jarre on the skyscrapers of downtown Houston on the evening of April 5, 1986. For a period of time, it held a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest outdoor "rock concert" in history, with figures varying from 1...
External links