October
21, 1950
Astronaut
Ron McNair
Ronald Ervin McNair, Ph.D.
(October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was a physicist and NASA astronaut.
McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission
STS-51-L
STS-51-L was the 25th flight
of the American Space Shuttle program, using the Space Shuttle Challenger,
which lifted-off from Launch Complex 39-B, at the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida, on January 28, 1986. The mission ended in catastrophic failure with
the destruction of Challenger, starting at 73 seconds after lift-off, and the
death of all seven crew members. The Rogers Commission determined that the
cause of the destruction was due to the failure of an O-ring seal on the
starboard Solid Rocket Booster (SRB).
Born in Lake City, South
Carolina, he was raised by his parents, Pearl M. and Carl C. McNair, and had
two brothers, Carl S. and Eric A. McNair.
In the summer of 1959, he
refused to leave the segregated Lake City Public Library without being allowed
to check out his books. After the police and his mother were called, he was
allowed to borrow books from the library, which is now named after him.
Born in 1950?
Then
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