New documentary features Denver man's pioneering career in astronaut training
Among the more than 180 films showing during the Denver Film Festival is a new documentary by National Geographic. It focuses on the impact of race in NASA, and tells the story of Ed Dwight, who was on track to become the nation's first Black astronaut.
"I got interested in aviation when I was a little bitty kid," Dwight told CBS News Colorado.
He beat the odds by becoming a decorated Air Force pilot.
"I went into the military when I was 18 years old, and next thing I know I'm flying every airplane in the inventory," he explained.
It's his time in the Aerospace Research Pilot School that is the subject of the new documentary, "The Space Race."
"I was a one man operation when the president announced to the world that he was going to announce a Black astronaut," Dwight said in the film.
The ARPS was where the Air Force's top pilots tested new aircrafts, and learned how to go to space. Notable names like Chuck Yeager, Buzz Aldrin, and Gus Grissom went through the school. Dwight joined them.
"It was a hard sell in the beginning. They reacted by spreading the word, 'Don't talk to this guy. Don't socialize with him. He's not one of us,'" Dwight told CBS News Colorado. "There were 17 of us and I graduated 7th out of my class."
In the end, Dwight was not chosen to go on to NASA and become an astronaut.
"Twenty years later, Guy Bluford comes along and is the first Black American to go to space. He had a path that was steps in the bush that he could follow because of what Ed did," said another African American astronaut in the film.
Dwight credits his mother for giving him the courage to be a pioneer.
"She kept whispering in my ear about how great this country was and how I could be apart of what this country was about," he explained to CBS News Colorado. "But the whole idea was you had to do something creative on the good side, and make everything better than it was before. I took that as a rule of thumb."
After Dwight left the Air Force, he had several successful careers here in Denver. Ultimately, he became one of the only Black sculptors to depict the African American experience in large scale monuments.
"Dr. King is metaphorically standing on the shoulders of Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, and Fredrick Douglas," Dwight describes the MLK Jr. Memorial he designed for Denver's City Park.
Ed Dwight's legacy stands in public spaces across the nation and now inspires in the film, "The Space Race."
LINK: Denver Film Festival
"The Space Race" screens Thursday, November 9th at the Museum of Nature & Sciences Infinity Theatre. The Denver Film Festival runs through Sunday, November 12th.