Celebrate Black History Month at The Academy Center of the Arts with a special pre-release screening of “The Space Race,” a powerful National Geographic documentary produced by astronaut Leland Melvin.
Join us for an evening dedicated to honoring the achievements of African-American astronauts throughout history. Doors open at 6:30 pm with engaging prescreening activities such as letters to space, a photo booth, and more. The film starts at 7:30 pm, followed by an exclusive interview and Q&A session with Leland Melvin.
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 and Lisa Cortés 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 fresh history to explore.
This is a FREE event, but ticket reservations are required.