to boldly go
One of America’s first Black astronauts, McNair grew up poor in South Carolina, where he learned he had to work twice as hard and learn twice as much to succeed in a white world.
Meredith Bagby is the author of The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel. She is a nonfiction writer as well as film and TV producer whose previous books include We've Got Issues, Rational Exuberance, and an ongoing series, The Annual Report of the USA. She produces with actress Kyra Sedgwick under the shingle Big Swing Productions. Previously she was a senior film development executive at DreamWorks SKG. Bagby was a political reporter and producer for CNN and a teaching fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics. Her education includes Columbia Law School and Harvard College.