First man on the moon is African American

[acgoldis]

Just saw that there was a Black astronaut in the moon shot program but he died in an accident in 1967 or so.

Did NASA ever consider black astronauts to walk the moon or was there just a lack of qualified black astronauts?

Jon Mixon's answer: Question: Did NASA ever consider black astronauts to walk the moon or was there just a lack of qualified black astronauts? Yes, they did. After John F. Kennedy advised them that he wanted to see a Black astronaut, efforts were put in the works to locate someone. Around that ...

www.quora.com

Suppose this guy survives (perhaps this incident doesn't occur or he survives the incident and the other guy dies). He makes it into the Apollo program along with Armstrong, Aldrin, and the others. Note also that he was not responsible for the accident: his copilot made the mistake.

According to the rotation NASA has been using for astronauts, which I wouldn't be surprised is known to the public, he is scheduled to be the pilot for Apollo 11.

For all we know, we can have simple POD of this guy surviving and Armstrong lost in the Gemini 8 mishap.

Does he make the first steps on the moon? If he isn't given the chance even though everyone knows his turn is up, how does the minority community respond?

 

[Histor32]

I see the minority groups cheering, I would hope that it would bring people closer and to move away from the racial bigotry faster.

 

[FasterThanRaito]

Considering the attitudes of the time, while this would be a great leap forward (heh), I don't see this happening unless said American was a defector/immigrant, or child of a defector/immigrant to Russia and somehow ended up on the first Soviet moon mission which beats the USA in the moon race.

 

[MrHappy]

Robert Lawrence: First African-American Astronaut - NASA

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was a joint project of the US Air Force (USAF) and the National Reconnaissance Office to obtain high-resolution

www.nasa.gov

Assuming he survived and entered the NASA program after the closure of the USAF program, he would have been coming to NASA fairly late in the game, certainly too late to be joining Armstrong or Aldrin for the first landing. But, maybe he could have been a member of one of the later landings....

 

[CaptainCalvert]

The easiest way is to delay the moon landings by a few decades, so there's a big enough pool of suitably experienced astronauts available. That's the easy part - you also have to change institutional and societal attitudes, which is a much harder job.

 

[Sekhmet_D]

Considering the attitudes of the time, while this would be a great leap forward (heh), I don't see this happening unless said American was a defector/immigrant, or child of a defector/immigrant to Russia and somehow ended up on the first Soviet moon mission which beats the USA in the moon race.

This begs the question. Would the Soviets have been more inclined to accept a black cosmonaut for their moon mission than the Americans?

 

[acgoldis]

I want to see some of the women get a chance for a moon landing (Jerrie Cobb and so forth). Would it be an all women crew?

"Armstrong just fired a thruster while he was moving around the cabin!"

"What was he doing?"

"Cobb."

"What about her?"

(silence)

 

[DougM]

Russia /The USSR was at least as racist at the time so not likly.
And anyone from outside the USSR itself is not getting into the space program as a cosmonaut. pur and simple. They let token members from allied countries but that is all, and they are not giving the honor of the first man on the Moon to someone that is not fully USSR.

 

[Chapman]

Russia /The USSR was at least as racist at the time so not likly.
And anyone from outside the USSR itself is not getting into the space program as a cosmonaut. pur and simple. They let token members from allied countries but that is all, and they are not giving the honor of the first man on the Moon to someone that is not fully USSR.

Still a big stretch and would not fulfill the OP’s desire for it to be an African American…but perhaps some member of the admittedly tiny Afro-Russian population? If they are at least born in the USSR and raised in Russian culture, that might be a little bit more likely. Trying to prove that not only are they technologically superior but also far more tolerant than their Western counterparts (reality notwithstanding).

I admittedly cannot see the US doing this, unless the moon landing is delayed a few decades like others have suggested. I can possibly see the USSR doing it as a cynical and shrewd stab at the Americans.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

Still a big stretch and would not fulfill the OP’s desire for it to be an African American…but perhaps some member of the admittedly tiny Afro-Russian population? If they are at least born in the USSR and raised in Russian culture, that might be a little bit more likely. Trying to prove that not only are they technologically superior but also far more tolerant than their Western counterparts (reality notwithstanding).

I admittedly cannot see the US doing this, unless the moon landing is delayed a few decades like others have suggested. I can possibly see the USSR doing it as a cynical and shrewd stab at the Americans.

Surely Russian first, other soviet states next, maybe a Warsaw Pact country and only then a token African or maybe a Cuban to poke the USA.

 

[Thon Taddeo]

Gil Scott Heron would need to rename his poem...