Ronald E. McNair
Mission Specialist

Ron McNair was selected as an astronaut candidate in January 1978, along with 34 other men and women--a group that included fellow Challenger crew members El Onizuka, Dick Scobee, and Judy Resnik. He was one of the first three African-Americans selected for the program. After completing a one-year training and evaluation period, he was qualified for future shuttle flights as a Mission Specialist.

His first mission, STS-11, was the February 1983 flight of the Challenger, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ron was primarily responsible for deploying one of two communication satellites for the mission. This mission also allowed astronauts to fly freely in space without a lifeline to the mothership.

It was Ron who positioned the crewmen around the payload bay using the Canadian arm. He also filmed motion pictures with the Cinema 360 camera and answered science-related questions from President Ronald Reagan.

Ron graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T in 1971 with a bachelor of science in physics, receiving a Presidential Scholar award (1967-1971) and a Ford Foundation fellowship (1971-1974). He went on to study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning his doctorate of philosophy in physics in 1976. Following graduation, he became a staff physicist with Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.

He attributed his passion for learning to his parents: "My parents were not pushers. They never told us to do anything, but somehow they created an atmosphere, an environment where it was the thing to do. My two brothers and myself went through college without anyone telling us to go to school one day, but it was fun to do."

Ron was also an accomplished athlete and musician. A fourth-degree black belt in karate, he also played the saxophone in a 18-piece swing band made up of space center employees. His saxophone accompanied him into orbit on his first space flight.

Ron McNair was born October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina. The second African-American to venture into space, he logged a total of 191 hours flight time.

He is survived by his wife, the former Cheryl Moore, and their two children, Reginald Ervin and Joy Cheray.

Additional Information

Read Ron McNair's official NASA biography.