Meet Ronald E. McNair
Dr. Ronald Erwin McNair was born on October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina to Pearl M. McNair and Carl C. McNair. He graduated from Carver High School, Lake City, South Carolina, in 1967. He received a Bachelor of Science in Physics from North Carolina A&T State University in 1971, graduating magna cum laude. He entered graduate school at Massachusetts Institute of Technology the same year. While at MIT, McNair developed some of the earliest HF/DF and high-pressure CO lasers. His later experiments and theoretical analyses f the interaction of intense CO2 laser radiation with molecular gases provided new understanding and applications for highly excited polyatomic molecules.
In 1975, while still in graduate school, he studied with many authorities in the field at E’cole D’ete Theorique de Physique. Les Houches, France. He published several papers on lasers and molecular spectroscopy and gave many presentations in the US and abroad. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976.
Dr. McNair became a staff physicist with Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California after graduation from MIT. His assignments included the development of lasers for isotope separation and photochemistry, utilizing nonlinear interactions in low-temperature liquids and optical pumping techniques. He also conducted research on electro-optic laser modulation for satellite-to-satellite space communications and constructed ultra-fast infrared detectors. He studied ultraviolet atmospheric remote sensing, and also had an interest in the scientific foundations of the marital arts.
Dr. McNair received three honorary doctorate degrees and many fellowships and commendations. These achievements included: a Presidential Scholar (1967-71), a Ford Foundation Fellow (1971-74), a National Fellowship Fund Fellow (1974-75), winner of Omega Psi Phi Scholar of the Year Award (1975), Los Angeles Public School System’s Service Commendation (1979), Distinguished Alumni Award (1979), National Society of Black Professional Engineers Distinguished National Scientist Award (1979), Who’s Who Among Black Americans (1980), and a Friend of Freedom Award (1981). Dr. McNair was also a 5th degree belt in Karate, received an AAU Karate Gold meal (1976), and won five Regional Black Belt Karate Championships, and he was an accomplished jazz saxophonist.
In January 1978, Dr. McNair finally realized his dream of becoming an astronaut and was the second African American to fly to space. He completed the one-year training and evaluation in August, 1979, making him eligible for assignments as a mission specialist astronaut on Space Shuttle flight crews.
He first flew as a mission specialist on STS 41-B, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. He was accompanied by spacecraft commander, Mr. Vance Brand, the pilot, Commander Robert L. Gibson, and fellow mission specialist, Captain Bruce McCandless II, and Lt.Col. Robert L. Stewart. The flight accomplished the proper shuttle deployment of two Hughes 376 communication satellites as well the flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit and the first use of the Canadian arm (operated by McNair) to position an EVA crewman around Challenger’s payload bay. Included were the German SPAS-01 Satellite, acoustic levitation and chemical separation experiments , the Cinema 360 motion picture filming, five Gateway Specials, and numerous mid-deck experiments for which Dr. McNair assumed primary responsibility. Challenger culminated in the first landing on the runway at Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984. With the completion of this flight , McNair logged a total 191 hours in space.
Dr. McNair was a mission specialist on STS 51-L, which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 11:38:00 EST on January 28, 1986. The crew on board the Orbiter Challenger included spacecraft commander, Mr. F.R. Scobee, the pilot, Commander M. J. Smith (UNS), fellow mission specialists, Lieutenant Colonel E. S. Onizuka (USAF), and Dr. J.A. Resnik , as well as two civilian payload specialists, Mr. G. B. Jarvis and Mrs. C. McAuliffe. The STS 51-L crew died on January 28, 1986 after Challenger exploded 1 minute 13 seconds after launch. After his death aboard the Challenger in 1986, Congress approved funding for the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program dedicated to the high standards of achievement that Dr. Ronald Erwin McNair exemplified.