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Ed Dwight Jr: The first black astronaut who never flew (Original Post) Blue_Tires Feb 2020 OP
👀 underpants Feb 2020 #1
more background Blue_Tires Feb 2020 #2
Thanks! This one is quite well done: Rhiannon12866 Feb 2020 #4
Huh? "Gravitational force could pull blood from your eyes" kosmograd Feb 2020 #5
NY Times -- Astronaut doesn't NEED piloting skills? kosmograd Feb 2020 #6
There were differing schools of thought early in the space program Blue_Tires Feb 2020 #8
role of pilots kosmograd Feb 2020 #12
more kosmograd Feb 2020 #3
Who really exploited and victimized him? kosmograd Feb 2020 #7
"non-existent" racism? Blue_Tires Feb 2020 #9
still looking for real evidence kosmograd Feb 2020 #10
Your google skills disabled or something? Blue_Tires Feb 2020 #11
not 'further' evidence, but ANY evidence, please kosmograd Feb 2020 #14
still hoping to be shown evidence.... kosmograd Feb 2020 #15
So nobody can find ANY evidence..... kosmograd Feb 2020 #16
Dwight himself doesn't blame Yeager, why should YOU? kosmograd Mar 2020 #17
witness, please kosmograd Feb 2020 #13

kosmograd

(11 posts)
5. Huh? "Gravitational force could pull blood from your eyes"
Tue Feb 4, 2020, 08:14 AM
Feb 2020

Uh, what's she talking about? "Gravitational force could pull blood from your eyes, rendering you sightless. "

kosmograd

(11 posts)
6. NY Times -- Astronaut doesn't NEED piloting skills?
Tue Feb 4, 2020, 08:48 AM
Feb 2020

Is this even true? If an astronaut candidate believed he'd just be able to passively ride in a remote-controlled craft, would he have the skills to take control if needed? Something doesn't add up.

ludorph quote:
Riding a rocket had little in common with flying a plane, aside from being airborne. “The basic thing you have to understand,” Dwight explained recently, “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.”

Blue_Tires

(56,620 posts)
8. There were differing schools of thought early in the space program
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 10:33 AM
Feb 2020

the USSR for example didn't allow their early cosmonauts to do ANYTHING -- The whole show was controlled from the ground and the cosmonauts were basically passengers. The USA was planning to go a similar path but ultimately decided to allow a margin for some manual control by the guys in the capsule.

kosmograd

(11 posts)
12. role of pilots
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 03:52 PM
Feb 2020

From the first orbital flights, Mercury astronauts had to override or supplement automated systems. Remote control was impractical due to only rare space-to-ground radio contact. If Dwight really believed that the astronaut needed to only be a passive passenger, that would have made a poor impression in his NASA interview [if he even got that far].

kosmograd

(11 posts)
7. Who really exploited and victimized him?
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 06:51 AM
Feb 2020

No question it was an ordeal on him, but could it be he was as much [or more] a victim of cynical White House electioneering manipulation as of non-existent ''astronaut racism'' [as Wikipedia and contemporary political exploiters called it]?.

kosmograd

(11 posts)
10. still looking for real evidence
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 03:38 PM
Feb 2020

The narrative refers to a statement from USAF officer Chuck Yeager that nobody has ever claimed to have heard, even second hand. Dwight graduated on schedule and got a good test pilot assignment -- what's the problem? And where's there any evidence for any NASA astronaut misbehavior?

Blue_Tires

(56,620 posts)
11. Your google skills disabled or something?
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 03:42 PM
Feb 2020

You want further evidence get out there and find it... Or go to Denver and talk to Dwight yourself.

Why is racism in 1961 so impossible for you to believe??

kosmograd

(11 posts)
14. not 'further' evidence, but ANY evidence, please
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 08:19 PM
Feb 2020

"You want further evidence get out there and find it.."

Isn't the accuser responsible for providing the evidence?

As to 'further' evidence, one quibble: I'm asking for ANY evidence Yeager made such a statement.

A told me that B told him that C told him that D said it -- uh, under what school of jurisprudence or journalism is that considered 'evidence'?

kosmograd

(11 posts)
15. still hoping to be shown evidence....
Mon Feb 17, 2020, 10:50 PM
Feb 2020

Gosh, I didn't mean to shut down this conversation by just asking for evidence for accusations against Yeager. Hello?

kosmograd

(11 posts)
16. So nobody can find ANY evidence.....
Thu Feb 27, 2020, 05:59 PM
Feb 2020

…. so I guess silence means nobody can prove any of those racism accusations against NASA and Yeager?

This is my shocked face: 8-0

kosmograd

(11 posts)
17. Dwight himself doesn't blame Yeager, why should YOU?
Tue Mar 3, 2020, 05:22 PM
Mar 2020

Edward J. Dwight [March 2, 2020] == “I never accused Chuck Yeager of causing my failure to fly in space. It was the political environment of the day that transcended anything that Chuck Yeager had an impact on.”

https://www.facebook.com/NPR/posts/10159027154926756

kosmograd

(11 posts)
13. witness, please
Thu Feb 6, 2020, 03:59 PM
Feb 2020

"Why is racism in 1961 so impossible for you to believe??"

Why is a third-hand hearsay rumor adequate evidence? Dwight said he heard from a guy who said he heard from a guy who said Yeager said it. What's the chance of distortion/elaboration along that hearsay pathway?

OK, so he's a white guy in 1962, so third hand accusations of racism automatically are proof enough?

Can I presume that you are thereby implicitly conceding that there IS no other evidence that this was what Yeager had actually said?

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