The Space Race

The Roxbury International Film Festival and Museum of Science, Boston are proud to present a special screening of The Space Race from National Geographic Documentary Films, uncovering the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers, and scientists that became astronauts.

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The movie poster for The Space Race.

The Space Race 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, directors Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (The Redeem Team) and Lisa Cortés (Little Richard: I Am Everything) 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. 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 the 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” looks like, giving us new heroes to celebrate and a hidden history to discover.

This program is free, thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute.

Register

Date and Time

Wednesday, February 28 | 7:00pm

Audience

Adults 18+

Location

Cahners Theater View Map

Price

Free with Pre-Registration

Language

English
Register

Date and Time

Wednesday, February 28 | 7:00pm

Audience

Adults 18+

Location

Cahners Theater View Map

Price

Free with Pre-Registration

Language

English

The Space Race 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, directors Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (The Redeem Team) and Lisa Cortés (Little Richard: I Am Everything) 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. 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 the 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” looks like, giving us new heroes to celebrate and a hidden history to discover.

This program is free, thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute.