America First

In 1978, Ron McNair, Anna Fisher and Mike Mullane are all selected by NASA to fly aboard the newly unveiled space shuttle. For the first time in the agency’s history, aspiring astronauts of all genders and racial backgrounds have been encouraged to apply - a shift that sets the stage for both opportunity and challenge.

Growing up under segregation in South Carolina, Ron McNair has few role models for a life in space beyond the fictional Lieutenant Uhura of Star Trek. So, when NASA opens its doors to a more diverse astronaut corps, he seizes the opportunity. 'From slavery to space in four generations' is how his brother Carl remembers Ron’s extraordinary achievements.

As the son of a fighter pilot, Mike Mullane has a childhood steeped in Cold War patriotism. When the Soviet Union launch Sputnik in 1957, it ignites in him both a lifelong passion for space and a fierce sense of rivalry with the Russians. A Vietnam veteran with more than a decade of combat experience, Mike arrives at NASA doubtful that women and civilians could ever possess ‘the right stuff’. But as his career progresses, he has to rethink everything he thought he knew about courage and teamwork.

Thrust into the spotlight as one half of America’s first ‘astronaut couple,’ Anna Fisher is a shy, introverted emergency physician unprepared for the glare of national attention. Her decision to leave her 15-month-old daughter behind to fly into space only intensifies the scrutiny, making her both a pioneer and a target in the court of public opinion.

As America looks to its state-of-the-art, reusable space shuttle to reinvigorate its national space programme, pressure mounts to meet the country’s military and commercial demands. Then, in 1986, tragedy strikes when space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after launch, killing all seven astronauts on board.

While the remaining shuttle fleet is grounded, the Soviet Union successfully launch MIR, the most sophisticated space station ever seen, and edge back ahead in the space race.

Immersive interviews with astronauts and their families reveal how they battled segregation, sexism and hard-wired prejudices to secure a ride to space. Together, their voices provide a moving account of life, and death, in America’s early space shuttle programme.