NASA vs Star Trek: Black space exploration

To paraphrase Chris Rock ‘if they can blast rockets into space to withstand temperature upwards of 20,000 degrees’, surely it’s not rocket science that they can send more black pioneers to space?

Well, spaceman, Charles Bolden born on this day in 1946 while not a familiar name to many readers is one such pioneer. In 2009 he was appointed by President Barack Obama as the administrator of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) the US space agency. A black man in space is not an image we've seen often whether in real life or on the big screen, so his credentials and achievements stand out even more.

After graduating from the US Naval Academy he served in Vietnam as a US marine pilot. After serving his terms of duty he joined the US Space Progam. Between 1986 and 1994 he piloted two space flights, and was the Commander on two subsequent flights. These missions in space ranged from working on the Hubble telescope to studying mineral deposits outside the Earth’s orbit. Interestingly, his last flight as Commander was on the historic first joint US/Russian space mission.

Bolden was by no means the first black astronaut in space, that achievement falls to Latin American, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, countryman of that great US foe, Cuba and their rival space programme. Three African Americans followed Mendez: Guion Bluford with four missions; Ronald McNAir who was tragically killed in his second mission on the fateful Space Shuttle Challenger disaster; and Frederick D. Gregory with three missions, who incidentally after retirement acted as Acting NASA Administrator some four years before Bolden.

Bolden's achievements have been followed by other firsts: Mae Jemison became the first African American woman in space in 1992, followed by Stephanie Wilson and Joan Higginbotham in 1996. Three Black astronauts have now walked in space: Bernard A. Harris, Jr., Winston E. Scott, and Robert Curbeam in 1993, 1996, 1997 respectively.

Despite these great achievements by Bolden and others, the number of BME people in space is miniscule. 15 astronauts out of 536 are from a BME background and only 57 are women.

The reasons for this are complex and not always racial: the space programme graduate scheme is one of the most if not the most competitive process in the World-99% of applicants fail; those with American citizenship have an advantage - with the historical dominance of NASA in space - which incidentally is why the 4 of the 6 Britons in space are Anglo-American; and finally the disproportionate lack of graduates from BME backgrounds in Maths and Science.

One of Bolden’s tasks on visits to the Muslim world has been to encourage the taking up of Maths and Science, and helping young people in these countries to feel proud of their heritage in the advancement of science, maths and astronomy.

When I was growing up the only BME faces in Space were on the original television series Star Trek, characters like Nyota Uhura, who as Whoopi Goldberg memorably put it was "a black woman on television; in space and she ain't no maid!".  It was only when I was older that I realised Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry - who co-incidentally shares his birthday with Bolden - and his utopian vision weren’t accurately reflected on Planet Earth or in Space Exploration.

Charles Bolden at NASA and others have made some strides forward, but more needs to be done. As we’ve discovered, key is promoting Science and Maths in our young , but another interesting development will be the financial investment and ascendance in the space race of Japan, Russia and China, as meanwhile NASA - who’ve abandoned Moon programmes - see their budget slashed year on year by federal government.

Will it be too long before we see a pan-African space mission? Space, the final frontier: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before?

Ashok Viswanathan