WHO'S WHO IN HOTLINE
ED DWIGHT
FULL NAME:EDWARD JOSEPH DWIGHT JR.
KNOWN AS: ED DWIGHT
IN HOTLINE: THE ALMOST FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN ALMOST ASTRONAUT
BORN: 9TH SEPTEMBER 1933
KANSAS CITY, UNITED STATES
MOON
Airforce Pilot
United States of America’s First Black Astronaut Candidate
United States Airforce 1953
Selected by the John F. Kennedy administration to be the First African American Astronaut Candidate 1961
Was not selected by Nasa
After John F. Kennedy’s assassination was no longer considered a Candidate any longer
Resigned from Airforce in 1966 due to the racism within NASA
NOW
Artist / Sculptor making Memorials & Public Art with renowned series exhibitions such as “Black Frontier Spirit Series” & “Jazz: An American Artform”
129 Memorial sculptures and over 18000 gallery pieces
MADE HONORARY SPACE FORCE MEMBER IN 2020
“I always wanted to be an Artist”
“I make Memorials. Memorials are based on real life. Monuments are based on ideals.”
“What people don't know is art was my deal and engineering was my sidebar.”
“The basic thing you have to understand is everything that happens on that spaceship, from the time you crawl into that seat to the time it touches down, is controlled from the ground. There's no one thing that makes a good astronaut. I don't know any person with determination and will that can't go to space.”
"This is insane. I didn't even know they let black pilots get anywhere near airplanes. ... Where did he get trained? How did he get in the military? How did all this stuff happen right before my nose?”
“There's always a fine line that divides hostility from neutrality, and I don't want to pass that line.”
KATHERINE JOHNSON
FULL NAME: CREOLA KATHERINE JOHNSON (nee. COLEMAN)
IN HOTLINE: KATHERINE JOHNSON
BORN: 26TH AUGUST 1918, WEST VIRGINIA, U.S.A
DIED: 24TH FEBRUARY 2020 (AGED 101!), VIRGINIA, U.S.A.
MOON
Graduated high school at 14
Enrolled at West Virginia State- took every maths class available
New mathematics courses were added JUST FOR HER
Graduated with degrees in Maths and French AT JUST 18 YEARS OLD
First African-American woman to attend graduate school
Wanted to become a research mathematician - due to prejudices at the time, she found this difficult, and moved to teaching
UNTIL 1952 - a relative told Katherine that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics were hiring mathematicians !
From 1953 to 1958 she worked as a computer
Katherine and the other African-American women in the computing pool were required to work, eat, and use bathrooms separate from those of their white colleagues
In 1958 Katherine became an aerospace technologist
She calculated the first trajectory for the first American man in space.
When NASA used electronic computers for the first time, Katherine Johnson was called on to verify the computer’s calculations!
Then in 1969, she calculated the trajectory for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon
“Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men.”
“Take all the courses in your curriculum. Do the research. Ask questions. Find someone doing what you are interested in! Be curious!”
“Let me do it. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.”
SALLY RIDE
FULL NAME: SALLY KRISTEN RIDE
IN HOTLINE: RIIIIIIIDE SALLLY RIIIIIIIIDE
BORN: 26TH MAY 1951, LOS ANGELES
DIED: 23RD JULY 2012, CALIFORNIA
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MOON
Joined NASA in 1978
First american woman in space 1983
Third woman in space overall
Still youngest American astronaut to have travelled to space
Flew twice on the Orbit Challenger
Left NASA in 1987
First lesbian astronaut (that we know of)
First lesbian in space (that we know of)
Questions Sally Ride was actually asked:
“Will the flight affect your reproductive organs?"
"Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?"
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Partner of 27 years - Tam O’Shaughnessy, met when they were both aspiring tennis players.
Wrote 6 acclaimed children’s science books together .
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"The stars don't look bigger, but they do look brighter."
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"All adventures—especially into new territory—are scary."
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"Suppose you came across a woman lying on the street with an elephant sitting on her chest. You notice she is short of breath. Shortness of breath can be a symptom of heart problems. In her case, the much more likely cause is the elephant on her chest. For a long time, society put obstacles in the way of women who wanted to enter the sciences. That is the elephant."
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"The view of earth is absolutely spectacular, and the feeling of looking back and seeing your planet as a planet is just an amazing feeling. It's a totally different perspective, and it makes you appreciate, actually, how fragile our existence is."
JERRIE COBB
FULL NAME: GERALDYN M. COBB
KNOWN AS: JERRIE COBB
IN HOTLINE: THE LEAST CONSULTED CONSULTANT
BORN: 5TH MARCH 1931, OKLAHOMA
DIED: 18TH MARCH 2019, FLORIDA
MOON
Private Pilot’s license at age 17
Commercial pilot’s license on 18th birthday
She set 3 aviation records in her 20s:
1. The 1959 world record for nonstop long-distance flight
2. The 1959 world light-plane speed record
3. The 1960 world altitude record for lightweight aircraft of 37,010 feet
1961 appointed to NASA as a consultant
“I have this feeling that life is a spiritual adventure, and I want to make mine in the sky.”
“Even before we . . . had reached 300 feet, I recognized that the sky would be my home.”
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MERCURY 13
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3 stages of physical and psychological training completed
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“First Lady Astronaut Trainees”
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The thirteen American women who were not part of NASA’s astronaut programme, who never flew in space, and who never met as a group but who passed the same tests as the Mercury 7.
Sarah Gorelick (later Ratley)
Gene Nora Stumbough (later Jessen)
Some of the tests included:
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Having to swallow a rubber tube to test their stomach acids
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Electric shocks
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Ice water was shot into their ears, freezing them
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Pushed to exhaustion on riding specifically weighted bicycles
Cobb, Woltman, and Funk underwent isolation tanks and psychological testing.
MATHA MWAMBWA & THE ZAMBIA SPACE ACADEMY
NAME: MATHA MWAMBWA
IN HOTLINE: MATHA MWAMBWA
AGE IN 1969: 22 years old
Zambian Space Academy
Initially destined for MARS!
2 cats
Training: makeshift facility by Nkoloso on an abandoned farm 7 miles from Lusaka
Rolled down a rough hill in a 200-litre oil drum
Taught to walk on her hands
Tire swing simulated weightlessness
Rocket: D-Kalu 1 - 3m X 2m drum shaped vessel
Planned launch date: 24th October 1964 - denied permission
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Matha became pregnant and returned to her parents
Matha’s story inspired the Afronauts short film directed by Nuotama Bodomo. Film link: https://vimeo.com/348304224
Interview with Nuotama Bodomo:
https://hyperallergic.com/515006/afronauts-nuotama-frances-bodomo-interview/
MICHAEL COLLINS
KNOWN AS: THE LONELIEST LONELY MAN IN THE WHOLE LONELY UNIVERSE
IN HOTLINE: MICHAEL COLLINS ASTROMAN
BORN: 31ST OCTOBER 1930 (spooky!) ROME, ITALY
MOON
Michael was one of the Apollo 11 astronauts.
He was a test pilot and major general in the U.S. Air Force
Flew in space TWICE!
His first spaceflight was on Gemini 10 in 1966
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He lost grip of the very expensive camera which is still floating in our atmosphere to this day.
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Apollo 11 - he flew the command module COLUMBIA round the moon solo while Buzz and Neil walked on the moon’s surface.
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“I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of, let’s say 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally changed. The all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced.”
“I think a future flight should include a poet, a priest and a philosopher… we might get a much better idea of what we saw.”
“I’d like to enter Aldrin in the oatmeal eating contest next time.”
Here's some of our research on the amazing people you met in the show.
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