‘The Space Race’ Doc Official Trailer About the First Black Astronauts
by Alex Billington
January 29, 2024
Source: YouTube
“Representation becomes critically important to help us keep moving down that path.” Learn the true story of the very first Black astronauts. National Geographic has revealed their official trailer for the documentary film titled The Space Race, from filmmakers Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Academy Award-nominated Lisa Cortés. This premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, and it stopped by other film fests including Chicago, Indie Memphis, and Denver. This historical doc film explores the intriguing experiences of the first Black astronauts through decades of archive film and interviews in a reflective illumination on the burden of breaking barriers. An empowering look back at the early days of NASA and how things have evolved since then. With appearances by Guion Bluford, Charles Bolden, Ed Dwight, Victor Glover, Frederick Gregory, Bernard Harris, Leland Melvin, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Jessica Watkins. The Space Race will debut first on National Geographic in February before streaming on Disney+ / Hulu. Space geeks must give this a look.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for National Geographic’s doc The Space Race, direct from YouTube:
The film weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden among many others. In The Space Race documentary, directors Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza 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 on Earth. From 1963, when the assassination of JFK thwarted Captain Ed Dwight’s quest to reach the moon, to 2020, when the echoes of the civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd reached the International Space Station, the story of African Americans at NASA is a tale of world events colliding with aspirations of uncommon men. The bright dreams of Afrofuturism become reality in The Space Race, turning science fiction into science fact, and forever redefining what “the right stuff” really looks like, giving us many new heroes to celebrate, and a fresh history to explore.
The Space Race is directed by filmmakers Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (Branding Kosovo, The People’s Fighters) & Lisa Cortés (The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion, All In: The Fight for Democracy, Little Richard: I Am Everything). Produced by Alexandra Bowen, Aly Parker, Mark Monroe, Keero Birla, Lisa Cortés, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. Featuring music by Anna Drubich & Jongnic Bontemps. This initially premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival last year. National Geographic will debut The Space Race doc streaming on NatGeo as well as on Disney+ and Hulu starting February 12th, 2024 coming soon. Who wants to watch?
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