The solution was to train a Black astronaut. The White House began searching for a Black pilot with all of the qualifications. It landed on Ed Dwight. “I had to be talked into it,” he said.

Bundled in his extravehicular mobility suit, Harris stepped beyond the spacecraft, becoming the first Black astronaut to perform a spacewalk. The sight of Earth beneath him was breathtaking ...

He remained with the agency from 1990 to 2010. During his tenure, he became an astronaut and served as a mission specialist on STS-55 in 1993 and the groundbreaking STS-63 flight in 1995 – which ...