Ronald McNair
Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was an American NASA astronaut and physicist. He died at the age of 35 during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, in which he was serving as one of three mission specialists in a crew of seven.
For the Arkansas politician, see Ron McNair (politician).
Ronald McNair
January 28, 1986 (aged 35)
7d 23h 15m
Prior to the Challenger disaster, McNair flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-B aboard Challenger from February 3 to 11, 1984, becoming the second African American in space.
Background[edit]
Ronald Erwin McNair was born in Lake City, South Carolina, October 21, 1950,[1][2] to Carl C. McNair, an auto repairman, and his wife, a high school teacher named Pearl.[3] Growing up alongside his older brother, Carl S.,[4] as well as his younger brother, Eric,[5] McNair grew up in a low-income household, his home having lacked both electricity and running water.[6] The family later moved into a better, though still poor-quality household following the death of McNair's grandfather. His older brother, writing in a posthumous biography about McNair, described how the family "covered the floor and furniture with pots and pans to catch the water dripping through the roof" when it rained.[4] In the summer of 1959, McNair refused to leave the segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed to check out his books. After the police and his mother were called, McNair was allowed to borrow books from the library; the building that housed the library at the time is now named after him.[7] A children's book, Ron's Big Mission, offers a fictionalized account of this event.
McNair graduated as valedictorian of Carver High School in 1967.[8]
In 1971, McNair received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering physics, magna cum laude, from the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina.[9] At North Carolina A&T, he studied under professor Donald Edwards, who had established the physics curriculum at the university.[10]
In 1976, McNair received a PhD degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the guidance of Michael Feld, becoming nationally recognized for his work in the field of laser physics. That same year, McNair won the AAU Karate gold medal. He would subsequently win five regional championships and earn a fifth-degree black belt in karate.[11]
McNair received four honorary doctorates, as well as a score of fellowships and commendations. He became a staff physicist at the Hughes Research Lab in Malibu, California. McNair was also a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.[9]
McNair was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004, along with all crew members lost in the Challenger and Columbia disasters.
A variety of public places, people and programs have been renamed in honor of McNair: